Mind you, I’ve been laying track and ballast since the '60s and have never had this happen before. I had a turnout go bad and replaced it with an Atlas Custom Line #6, same as was in there. Got it in place, Rix switch machine hooked up, tested for continuity in both branches (I use power routing through the turnouts), and test ran some engines through it in all directions. Everything worked great.
I put some ballast down and wet the area with wet water and added white glue/water mix as I have done many times in the past. Put the fan on it to dry while I went to lunch. Got side tracked with some outdoor chores and finally got back to the train room around four. I started running an engine through the turnout and it stalled! Readjust switch machine, check clearances, ensure adequate throw from the switch machine, check for free movement in the points… What? Why will the points only move half way? They act as though they are stuck or rigid or… Awww, darn. Some glue must have crawled into the pivots for the points.
So I removed the turnout and took it upstairs and washed it in the kitchen sink. Scrubbed the pivots with a toothbrush (an old one) and let it soak. It’s now working fine.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep the glue from getting into the pivot? I was thinking about some blue tape across the opening. It probably doesn’t have to be completely waterproof, just enough to keep the water out until the glue sets.
The turnout was (luckily) in an area that is very easy to get to. It took about two minutes to get it out and drop it in the sink while I washed the supper dishes. All is well.
I would first have tried re-wetting the affected area, sopping it often, or wicking it, with a paper towel corner. I am guessing that after about three or four goes at this, say over 15 minutes, you would be able to let it dry…thoroughly…as in overnight as a minimum…and then you would be home free.
Please excuse my ignorance or lack of experience but is it really necessary to glue down the ballast inside the turnout like the O/P described? On all of my turnouts on the inside near the points etc. I don’t glue the ballast down I just push it around with my foam brush till I get it the way I like it and make sure everything is working properly and just leave it alone. It isn’t going any where. I am very self conscious about ballasting even though guys in the club say my stuff looks just fine but I am very critical and never like the way it comes out so I am super fussy when it comes to ballasting and just figure why complicate matters by gluing down the ballast in that area.
Good question, and the answer for some reading will be definitely not.
I, on the other hand, do place ballast carefully and cover the points and throwbar with small pieces of painter’s tape before I do any gluing. Secondly, I don’t glue the same way as I do on the rest of the tracks. Generally, I don’t glue my ballast like most hobbyists. I try to use a lighter glue mix and I don’t soak the ballast with glue until it runs out the bottom. I prefer a lighter shell of sorts which is more easily busted up if I need to relay a bad spot. I do ballast most of the turnout, carefully, and after covering the works, I glue the ballast to help the turnout stay put.
As a beginner, ballasting switches has always been a disaster for me. I barely glued at all, only on the sides of the track actually, and I also used fine ballast but the Atlas switches would always jam.
Some people on here have suggested to simply paint the cork very dark gray, and not even ballast at all near the switch, thats what I am going to try.
Off topic here, but as a beginner, is there any special black paint I should use on the cork in order to match the color of the atlas code 100 track? Any special brands or particular considerations to keep in mind?
In fact, even before I ballast any of the layout, I think my first step should be to paint the cork black, but I know very little about what brand or texture of paint to pick up at Home Depot.
I mean, I don’t want the paint to be gloppy and shiny but rather thin and dull. Any suggestions?
I am having one of those “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that-moments”; this lttle bit of inspiration will remain with me forever. Funny I didn’t think of it; after all I have been using Petroleum Jelly on the tops of my rails to keep paint from sticking when I weather my flex track.
Allegheny2-6-6-6, I don’t usually glue my switches down but that is because I have, on a couple of occasions, experienced the same problem fiatfan outlines. I give acknowledgement to cacoles solution because it is a solution that I am sure will work. And I’m going to remember it . . . . . and perhaps even use it!
Just don’t go to heavy on the Vaseline. I filled the opening on the underside of the turnout last night and the turnout would night throw completely to either side. You can have too much of a good thing. I gave up on the project and will attack it anew today.
A bit of olive oil or vegetable oil on a toothpick should also do the trick.
I fasten my turnouts at the extreme ends (with adhesive caulk) but try to leave the central points area free to float a little bit. But I also do try to fasten the ballast which I imagine to some extend does fasten down the turnout as well. I do not use a great deal of ballast around the points just enough to look plausible and avoid a bare cork look.
I have experimented with a piece of tape on the bottom of the turnout and a light coating of ballast on the tape – before installing the turnout. (You can turn it upside down to free up the loose grains). That way the points can be movable since you can keep the tape away from the rod that moves the points.
What I do not know is how long the tape will hold the ballast but my hunch is, long enough and well enough so long as I don’t try to pry at it.
“Allegheny2-6-6-6, I don’t usually glue my switches down but that is because I have, on a couple of occasions, experienced the same problem fiatfan outlines. I give acknowledgement to cacoles solution because it is a solution that I am sure will work. And I’m going to remember it . . . . . and perhaps even use it!”
I generally don’t glue my turnout either depending on who’s they are, for instance if it’s a Walthers/Shinohara there are plenty of points to use track nails but if it’s an Atlas custom line turnout there aren’t nearly as many places to use track nails. I am starting to lead towards gluing and then removing the nails as they always seem to stick out like sore thumbs to me.
As far as remembering good ideas and using them I have that CRS disease as well so I have to write everything down.God help me if I ever loose my book.
A while back someone wrote to MR about using stone textured spray paint. Get it at a craft store and spray the roadbed before installing the turnout. I’ve seen the paint used in other applications and it would be a good substitue for regular ballast but withoutt he potential to get into the workings.
That was former MR editor, and now publisher, Terry Thompson who suggested that approach. I tried it on a sample that I passed around at a clinic on ballasting I gave for our local NMRA Division. There are colors that actually come very close to matching Woodland Scencis gray ballast and, to my surprise, a pinkish color that comes very close to the brand of Chicago & North Western “pink lady” ballast I use on my layout. I guess I’d say that it is a decent compromise that does not stand up well to super close scrutiny (nor I suspect to close up photography) but if you were doing a quicky layout or wanted to capture an effect of ballasting in say a staging yard, it can be fairly convincing. Indeed it would probably be more convincing to do the entire layout with the spray stone texture rather than just the turnouts.
One problem – that has to be the mostly wildly uncontrollable type of spray paint that exists! I was very glad I decided to do it outdoors on lengths of cork roadbed I cut to fit.
Two other approaches I showed at that same clinic. First, even if you do not use it for the rest of the layout, those prefab switches that come with integral plastic roadbed attached (Life Like, Kato, Atlas and I think Bachmann all have proprietary brands of this track, as does Lionel of course) can be painted and weathered and a quantity of your real ballast added to the side slopes – the end result can be VERY convincing even close up. But you have to want to use the limited variety of switches available in this format. I think Terry Thompson had also sugges
I haven’t ballasted yet, but my plan is to not ballast around the throwbar and other key areas on turnouts. I just painted the roadbed underneath a gray color that matches the ballast. I’m using WS fine gray ballast, and I used the el-cheapo acrylic craft paint for the roadbed under the turnouts ($1.19 or so at Wal-Mart). I think the gray paint color is close enough to the ballast color. Plus, the texture of the cork roadbed makes it look kind of like ballast once it’s painted.
Re: petroleum jelly - I thought I had heard from somewhere not to ever use this near a model railroad because it will eventually eat through plastic. Any truth to that? Apparently not much, judging by all those who replied that they use it on a regular basis…