Would these even be possible to have and work in HO scale? Especially to be DCC compatable?
Tru-Scale turnouts were like that back in the day. No reason you couldn;t make them DCC compatible. But why?
–Randy
Well I am planning on modeling modern UP Kearney Subdivision which means Movable Point Frog Switches on both wooden and concrete ties. Plus making my own switch heaters. It just looks like it would be a little over whelming of a project, atleast doing the first bunch of them
German company Fleishmann has been making these for years. Only problem is they use brass rail.
I wouldn’t try it in N! [:-,]
That said people domake moveable diamonds… maybe there’s even been a thread here. Somechanically it’s possible in H0 - just a matter of very careful work. Rather than try to figure out where to put H0 rail joints I would just try to copy the real thing first try and then adjust from there if needed.
HOWEVER… do you really need to make the frog work? Would you be satisfied with a cosmetic version with all the switch motors and rods in place?
If you can get the mechanical sideworking satisfactorily sorting out the insulation for different elements for DCC shouldn’t be too big a problem… just suitable switch(es) and insulating the rails.
Do let us know how you get on please.
[^]
Way back in the 1960s-'70s, Tru Scale made movable point frog turnouts in HO scale. I still have two of their #8 turnouts. As far as their being “DCC Friendly” if they’re installed properly they are. The term DCC Friendly is really quite meaningless and is just a sales pitch.
Hi,
Take a look at this site, and click at the bottom of the page on the “Bronx Terminal logo”, there is a lot of videos and “how to” feature about building your turnout whith movable switch points.
Marc
Is this discussion about hinged points or moveable-frog turnouts? There was an article in either Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman, pre-1988 (I couldn’t find it in the index of magazines here) that detailed building a moveable-frog turnout. I’d never heard of them, but decided to build one for a visible but fairly inaccessible area on my layout. I powered it with a PFM/Fulgurex switch motor (a beautiful machine) and it worked flawlessly - not bad for a first attempt at handlaying track, I thought. [;)]
Wayne
The current ‘swing nose’ frogs that UP has been using on some turnouts are huge. There are 3 switch machines on the one I saw - 2 on the points, and another one to move the frog assembly. Also, they are not like the old Tru-Scale frogs.
I am sure someone has built a working model…
Jim
The article is “Handlaying high-speed turnouts, Closing frog turnouts provide smooth operation” by James R. Barrante in Model Railroader, September 1981, pp 80-85. It is a very well done how to article that gives excellent instructions and is well illustrated.
Joe
The turnouts on the Kearney Sub are #20 turnouts (or larger), that means that one universal crossover (4 switches) on the wide track center track is about 14 ft long in HO scale. Using 3" track centers, that would mean the track center lines would take about 5 ft for one crossover, plus the points plus the tangent between crossovers.
Hope you have a big basement.
Thanks, Joe. [:)] I did see that reference in the index, but didn’t realise that it was the article for which I was searching. I gave my 40+ year collection of MRs to a friend, so couldn’t look up the references mentioned.
Wayne
You’re welcome Wayne. Now that I’ve have pulled this reference out of the archives it keeps needling me to give it a try.
Joe