Another track down memory lane. This is going back to the days, when a number of modelers (advanced), would hand lay track and build turnouts (switches) from scratch.
Run8: I remember (and used) Tru Scale track. There were several variations/options available as well as several owners. The ready track that had the famous “high speed frog” was an excellent product. And they produced as part of their offering a number 6 double turnout with built in crossing. A very neat piece. That track is quite often seen at swap meets. The next iteration, however, was a rather poor product. It had a pot metal frog that you could not solder to and the track rails often were not only not even across the ends, but some of them were actually short of the end of the attached road bed. That style (and product name) of milled roadbed is still available (I think) from BK Enterprises.
Old Fat Robert
My first layout was TruScale track, some ReadyTrack, some turnout kits and Self-Gauging roadbed.
Stuff worked great. Still have a little bit of their plain wood roadbed on the current layout…
Run Eight, by the way, nearly all these different products you have been posting about, I still have on my layout…built my first Silver Streak kit at age 13…
Sheldon
Once talked to the original owner of TRU-SCALE track, asked a bunch of questions but one of his answers surpriced me as he refered to his track as a bunch of junk (his words), don’t know if he was refering in compaired to today or vs. handlaying at the time of the company, proubly a bit of both.
People still do this. You can even buy aluminum jigs from two different companies that hold all the turnout parts in alignment as you are soldering them to PC board ties. You can also free hand turnouts. You dont really have to be an advanced modeler to handlay track anymore, and Im not really sure you ever did (have never used Tru Scale track, so maybe that requires some advanced techniques).
Agreed, a fair number still hand lay track. I still do for special trackwork.
BMMECNYC, TruScale track was a wood roadbed with the ties, all milled from a single piece of wood.
In the milling process of the ties, four small raised pieces simulating a tie plate were left on each tie. This created a “space” for the rail which even without a three point track gauge, positioned the rail very close to being in gauge.
The rail was spiked to the roadbed.
You mean Augie Kniff? That would really surprise me that he would call it junk, unless he (in common with Colonel Sanders) was expressing disgust with what had happened to his creation once he lost control. But in fact he was not the original owner and creator who I think died (young) in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Kniff “made” the company but was not the creator or inventor.
The self-gauging roadbed, whatever its visual shortcomings, was certainly a good way to learn how to hand lay track. It was very nearly foolproof although my first experience at trying fully justifies the phrase “very nearly.” A fool could mess it up, that I can testify. Once you mastered it you were ready for “true” hand laying on separate ties and using a track gauge to assist.
Dave Nelson
Don’t remember the name of the guy but he produced and sold Tru-scale in the 50’s, found him when doing resurch on old companys brought on by finding out about the history of Campbell models.
Tru-Scale turnouts
Ah-ha that was a name/product I was trying to think of,…her is a quote from another site
Quote:
https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/185786.aspx
Tru-scale track started off with milled wood roadbed - think E-Z Track without rails. My objection was that the grain was lengthwise of the milled piece, sideways to the ties. I could never afford it myself, but did encounter it on several club layouts. Since the ties had tie plates milled into them, it was somewhat self-gauging when rail was laid on rail-free roadbed.
Tru-switches were unusual in that the points, closure rails and frog wings were a single assembly that pivoted between the stock rails. This resulted in a closed frog, and made them all but derailment proof.
An excellent product for its day. Of course, its day was six decades ago.
…and wheel-dip proof
So not many folks ever tried to ‘modernize’ this design?
Brian
Movable Frog turnouts
Quote:
doctorwayne
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.
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.
Could anyone help me find a copy of this article? I’m very interested in what could be done to modernize the TruScale concept into a simple gapless design that could be built by an individual modeler of very moderate capabilities.
Or, such a bargain, Eight issues from 1981 including September ($2.13 per issue including shipping, plus tax).
Good Luck, Ed
Brian, so what happened to the thread you posted in this morning? Did you manage to get it deleted that fast? Why can’t you follow the rules?
Still would like to know what you mean by modernizing the TruScale design?
Build them easily? No more easily than scratch building any turnout.
I had a whole layout full of them back in the day, they worked great.
Sheldon
I never used Tru-Scale track, but I recall dad using their milled roadbed on my HO scale 4 by 8 I had as a kid.
I seem to remember him saying it was good wood and not cheap cork.
-Kevin
I ordered some Tru Scale roadbed from Walthers when I opened my hobby shop back in 1997. Never sold a piece of it. I think it was gone from Walther’s inventory by the time I closed in 2000. I still have it, somewhere.