This may be a simple question for most of you but for me it has me stumped. I’m working in N Gauge with Peco Code 80 Flex and Peco Turnouts.
My question is I’m installing Peco switch motors under my bench work and I had to drill 1/4 inch hole thru my plywood in order to slide the extension Pin thru the throw arm in order for it work. How do I cover these holes and still be able to have the throw arm slide back and forth smoothly? I thought of ground cover but won’t that look funny that where every a switch is located there is a patch of ground cover and the track ballast stops then starts again past the ground cover?
Thanks again for all your help with this.
I have learned to live with the holes,…anything blocking or restricting the throwrod will cause you problems later…I don’t even put ballast between the point rails and the closure rails for fear of the glue messing up the moving parts…I usually just paint the area with a color of paint that matches or closely matches the color of the ballast before installing the turnout…chuck
Once the turnout is in place, the crossties partially cover the hole. Unless you have a bright light under the layout, the hole is not going to be that noticeable once you ballast and add trackside scenery. Don’t ballast between the point rails. Even prototype railroads usually don’t put ballast between the rails at turnouts, so a rock won’t get caught in the turnout and cause a derailment.
But I think I may not have explained this problem right or I’m really off base. The 1/4 inch hole is right along the side of my cork roadbedding. Another words I drilled the hole along side of the turnout in line with the the throw rod and then installed the switch machine with the extension pin coming up thru underneath the benchwork. So the hole is very visable. I hope this is much clearer to you guys and thanks again for all your help.
I did understand your question…one thing you could do is (if it won’t look too badly, ) extend the two switch stand track ties out far enough until the hole is located between them…Balsa wood strips the same dimentions of the ties can be butted against the original ties and glued in place…then glue a thin strip of styrene plastic across the entire length from the outside rails to the end of the ties which will cover the butted joint so it doesn’t look like a tie butted against another…Chuck
The only way to avoid the hole is to make a slit. More like 0 than O. You use a smaller drill bit to make the ends and the center then chisel or cut out the remaining wood
Use a piece of thin cardstock to cover the hole, then re-ballast. If it won’t look right on top of the roadbed, under the ties, then put the cardstock under the roadbed on the sub-roadbed. Cut a slit so that the throw arm of the switch motor can move unrestricted. Fill in the rest of the hole with ballast or a small piece of lichen or some colored expanded poly film. No need to have a big, unsupported hole in the railroad!