SO, I went and Scratchbashed my own Diamond... and of course I didn't take pictures

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Just thought I’d glaot, I’ll admit that I was afraid the camera wuld come out, and the gremlins would appearm but I;m tempted to do another one later, for doumentary purposes.

Easiest thing in the world, I pinned down tow piesce of 9" HO straight track, one on top of the other, amd marked the ties on the top piece that needed to go away.

Maqde them go away.

Put the track back on top (Re-used pin holes in the foam) and, witha dremel, I cut to both sides of the top rail on the bottom rail. Top rail served as a cutting guide Removed the bottom piece of track, and worked the small pieces of rail that were under the top secton. Put it back under the tp piece, and dremeled out the flangeways for the bottom rail, by taking the cutting wheel and mating it flush with the bottom rail.

At this point, we shattered the cutting wheel. Also learned, that rail being dremeled, gets FRIKKEN hot, don’t touch it. New blade, a check to make sure that Dremel wasn’t sicking out of my arm, and we finished the job, cleaning up edges and CAing the cross track (top piece) to the ties f the bottom track.

I haven’t the foggiest about Power routing, but both the athearn bay caboose, and a bachmann boxcar have graced the diamond. Going across the “top” track, it’s smooth as silk. Not a click as it goes across. The bottom does have some wrk to be done, I need to reglue a rail down from the cross track, it’s caused 2 derailments. (Ten sucessful tests, and it’s the eleventh that fails… go figure)

ANyway, I doubt I’ll ever be handlaying track, but this was fun, and more economical than buying a bunch of diamonds and guessing which one fit. It won’t win any beauty contests, as I have to put some ties back under the top rail, but a little ballast, and no one’s the wiser anyway. I suspect the next crossover I do, will be done much the same way.

2

It was certainly worth the effort, and once you figure out how to do it, it should turn out well. Just mind gauges and clearances, and if your pickups are far enough apart on the loco and actually picking up current properly, I think it should work.

It bugs me when something works so many times in a row, and then comes a failure. It’s hard to pin down exactly what the problem is if all the specs are in order.

-Crandell

3

Could you post some pictuers? I need to make one my self.

Cuda Ken

4

Then you may well not have built a functional diamond crossing yet, sorry. If you have created shorts or large open gaps, it wont work with a powered engine in both directions. Try that, then come back and let us know.

And why would you have to “buy a bunch of diamonds”? Just measure the angle and use the closest crossing.

I’m all for learning new skills, but there’s a difference between something that looks like a crossing and one that works with locos.

5

Good job. How did you get away from wiring it without a DP/DT switch or a reversing circuit? the only thing I can guess is that you gapped every rail and your locomotives have 2 truck power pick-ups. I’ve always wanted to build a diamond (in fact, I believe building one is a requirement for an NMRA “Master Modeler” certificate) because I use the Atlas 30º version and it still spreads the tracks apart more than I care for.

When I retire in 6 years, I plan on one more move and my final layout will have all hand built turnouts and diamonds. I’ll finally have the time to take on such a project instead of the store bought stuff that I use today…chuck

6

Here is a good reason to lay your own. You will notice electrically, that your diamond has 4 electrical ‘zones’. 2 of these zones do NOT need any gaps in them as they correspond to the rails they are connected to. The last 2 zones need to be electrically switched depending on where the loco is entering the diamond. The 2 zones can either be left dead (not a good idea) or can simply be hooked to up to a reversing loop modual. That way, no matter which way a loco enters the diamond, it will ensure no electrical gaps.

Commercially available diamonds have to assume that both legs are electrically independent. They will usually include 4 unpowered frogs that will not make 0-4-0s very happy. The shallower the frog angle, the longer the frogs and the bigger the dead zone.

Anyways, I hope you can post a pic or 2. Handlaying is a slipperly slope. One you start, you really cant go back.

David B