Code 40 is not for the faint of heart

EricB Dec 28, 2012

  1. EricB

    EricB TrainBoard Member

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    I've finally had some time to work on the layout after being on hiatus from it for a year or so. When I started it I thought it would be great to do the whole thing in code 40. I used ME flex and built my own turnouts (without a fastracks jig). Well, tonight I decided to try to run a train. It was a complete failure on my part. I couldn't get the loco through any of my eight turnouts. There were gauge problems, flange way problems, electrical problems,... It was an exercise in futility. I'm not sure what happened but none of them were working. They were all fine and functioning when they were placed on the layout but something changed. I'm wondering if problems arose when the layout was moved to a different room in the house.

    So now, I'm not sure what to do. I can probably work out the problems but I'm concerned about the durability of the track work. The layout will probably need to be moved again as my son will need the space where it is now as he gets older and it may need to be stored away.

    Also, I found that the Micro Engineering flex was also out of gauge. It was a hair too wide. It didn't seem to make any difference with the rolling stock though.

    Eric
     
  2. garethashenden

    garethashenden TrainBoard Member

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    Code 40 is not for the faint of heart.

    Plain track that is too wide isn't a problem. My club's oval test track has 2mm finescale (9.42mm gauge) rather than N and all my stock runs fine.
     
  3. Avel

    Avel TrainBoard Member

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    A little tweaking should fix it. Also I agree on the flex, its too wide.
     
  4. gregamer

    gregamer TrainBoard Supporter

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    Code 40 is not for the faint of heart.

    I'd buy a FasTrack's jig and build new turnouts.
     
  5. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Contrary to popular belief...handlaying track and/or building turnouts with/without a jig AINT for everyone !! Heck....I'm luck to be able to snap 2 pieces of Unitrack together and not have problems...LOL.
     
  6. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    In my limited experience with hand-laid turnouts, none of them worked until they were in place and tweaked to the position within the other tracks. My club used to mass produce hand-laid turnouts on a Tuesday night. We just assembled them and then put them in a box. The track-layers used them as necessary. AFAIK, every turnout was adjusted after being put in place. It was a great operating layout when complete.
     
  7. robert3985

    robert3985 TrainBoard Member

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    Eric,

    I've built hundreds of code 70, code 55 and code 40 turnouts for my layout/modules as well as for my friends and acquaintances in both HO and N scale.

    I have never used a Fast Track jig or fixture, nor do I plan on ever using one. You don't need them.

    When I teach people how to lay their own turnouts, I always tell them that the first three turnouts they build won't work. So far, I've been correct.

    There's a protocol to making turnouts using PCB ties, with the rails soldered to these ties.

    (1) The first thing you do, is either draw what the turnout's rails will look like, or download and print a template from Fast Tracks or Proto87 Stores. Build your turnout on top of your template, which you've taped securely to a flat board or your workbench top.

    I use both the NMRA Clearance Gage, and three ME three-point gauges (I have three each of them for code 70, code 55 and code 40). Another NMRA Clearance Gage comes in handy sometimes, so I have two of 'em.

    (2) I tape down the PCB ties over my taped down template using plain old sticky masking tape so the PCB ties don't move as I'm building the turnout.

    (3) Third, as you add rails to your turnout, make sure you check each step with both the NMRA Clearance Gages and a free-rolling MT truck or car. A properly built turnout will not bump your car at all...it will glide through without any interference. This is important...and essential. NEVER assume your tracks just happen to be in gauge or properly placed because you've positioned it with your gauges. The proof is if your cars roll through it unimpeded...and that's the ONLY proof.

    Make sure you've included enough PCB ties to give your turnout a little strength. There will be gaps you'll cut in your rails, particularly in the frog area and I always have a minimum of two PCB ties on either side of my gaps. Also, at the ends of your closure points, both the throwbar and the headblocks should be PCB ties. I include an extra PCB tie on either side of the headblocks because this is a point of stress on any turnout. Actually, I probably use too many PCB ties, but my layout is portable, so I want my turnouts to be extra tough.

    The places that you'll have gauge problems are at the frog and at the closure points. If your rails are all properly gauged in the frog area and your test truck and car roll through it okay before you apply your guardrails, then they don't run through it after you've applied your guardrails, you need to adjust your guardrails by heating your solder joint and gently moving them in the direction they need to go using a pair of pointy metal tweezers...remove the iron and continue holding the guardrail down until the solder hardens. Go to the other joint on the guardrail, check it, and move it the same way.

    Sometimes, the frog itself can be a problem, especially at the point of the frog where the two diverging rails bend. It's easy to make this area too "tight"...so check it with your NMRA Gage...and if there is any interference either file it until the gage slides unimpeded through, or desolder and reposition.

    If you have not built the diverging rail of your turnout with a distinct "kink" in it, with a short straight section, your turnout configuration is not correct. The sharp bend starts on or before the furthest headblock from the frog, and is essential in order to enable your closure points to be wide enough to be properly in gauge. Where this kink starts is indicated in the Proto87 Stores templates as well as where the straight section of track starts to curve on the diverging rail. This section is commonly called the "switch".

    The nice thing about building your own turnouts is that they can usually be fixed easily by desoldering and either moving or removing the offending parts and re-installing new ones.

    However, installing your turnouts before testing them is very bad practice, and will always result in turnouts that don't work. TESTING your turnouts while constructing them is part of the manufacturing process. Each step shall be tested...it's that simple.

    Don't get discouraged. Code 40 turnouts are the easiest to build 'cause you don't have to remove as much metal. The clearances are exactly the same for code 55 and larger rail. However, I'd add extra PCB ties to reinforce them because of the skinny rails.

    Lastly, you need to test each turnout before you install it for electrical continuity and make sure there are NO SHORTS. I always run a file on the edges of my PCB ties to get rid of any copper shards that may short things out. I also never attach more than one feeder to any single PCB tie, unless I gap the copper cladding on the bottom of the tie too.

    If you gap your frogs closely, making your frogs as short as possible, you can get away with dead frogs, even running engines such as the Kato NW2. However, if your turnouts are larger than #7's, I've found those longer frogs need to be powered.

    Here are some photos of my setup and some close ups of the turnouts I built for my Emory Center Siding on my modular layout a couple of months ago. These are code 55.

    Step 1: Taping down the template...
    [​IMG]

    Step 2: Taping the PCB ties to the template/workbench...
    [​IMG]

    Step 3: Soldering rail assemblies to PCB ties. Notice that I attach ME ties to the rails in between turnouts.
    [​IMG]

    Kink in diverging rail
    [​IMG]

    If you've got questions, PM me.

    Cheers!
    Bob Gilmore
     
    polarMike likes this.
  8. robert3985

    robert3985 TrainBoard Member

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    Here are three more photos that pertain to this thread.

    Working on Throwbars...
    [​IMG]

    Closeup of my Throwbars...
    [​IMG]

    Code 40 turnouts on the Park City Branch, painted, ballasted, weathered w/Tortoises underneath and live frogs...
    [​IMG]

    Cheers!
    Bob Gilmore
     
  9. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    Handlaying is not as difficult as it used to be......

    Triple Track - Wyes and Crossings.jpg

    This was done using code 55 rail for the main lines. There are 3 sets of these for a mainline wye, the rest of the layout uses ME code 55 flex track, and all the other turnouts from #12 crossovers to #10 wyes are all hand laid.

    On the branch and industry tracks, I tried using ME code 40 flex but abandoned it. I was in contact with the Balboa guys who hand lay code 40 and found that everything runs on hand laid code 40; there are no issues with the flange size except maybe the Arnold S2's. But mine were converted to NSWL wheelsets years ago. Hand laying turnouts is not the easiest or the most difficult thing to do. But like was said above, the first couple I use for scenery as abandoned track. But soon you get turnouts the work with just a little tweaking and soon after the you build turnouts with no tweaking needed. The same can be done in place of flex track. After a while, this becomes easier and easier too. I can lay about 3 feet of hand laid track in about an hour, whether it is curved or straight.

    It is all doable if you you want to give it a try......
     
  10. jdcolombo

    jdcolombo TrainBoard Member

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    One thing I would note that no one has commented on is that changes in temperature and humidity can cause trackwork difficulties. I started my basement layout in the summer in a finished room in the basement, with full HVAC. By February, the track had kinked in several spots, turnouts that had worked perfectly in July started to bind and do weird things (because the stock rails were getting pushed out of alignment), etc. The major cause of my problem was not putting in enough "expansion joints" - e.g., unsoldered track joints with a bit (1/16"?) of space so that the track could "close up" when the underlying plywood base contracted for lack of moisture in the winter (the track I laid in the winter, however, was just fine; I learned that sub-roadbed expansion in summer is far less a problem than contraction in winter). While I've never used Code 40 track, I suspect that the thinner/lighter profile of the track would make it even more susceptible to these kinds of things. Moving your layout to a different room with different temperature/humidity and a different heating/cooling season could be a contributing source of your troubles.

    John C.
     
  11. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    I use a foam top and have no issues with expansion or contraction. But a good catch of missing information.
     
  12. EricB

    EricB TrainBoard Member

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    Bob, I think you're idea of too many pc ties might be what I need. All my turnouts worked fine when they were installed but I think neglect and movement are what are causing my problems. Time to start tweaking.

    Eric
     
  13. Boilerman

    Boilerman TrainBoard Supporter

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    It is not so much the track but the wood that your bench work is constructed of that expands and contracts causing one to think it is the track.

    We had our AC go down in the heat of the summer this year and it was down for 2 weeks until the contractor got the new major parts installed.

    This caused major problems as I have a fairly large layout and I am still working out thoes problems this is the first time that I have experienced this kind of thing in over 6 years with the same layout that has always been in a climate controled location.

    One of the things I found that helps is to lay the roadbed and track on foam that is placed on the plywood and not directly on plywood, the areas that I had done that did not have problems, areas were I placed the track on Homasote that was on plywood had the problems.
     
  14. robert3985

    robert3985 TrainBoard Member

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    Interestingly, my experience with expansion and contraction causing problems has been zero. I have a portable layout which gets taken three times a year to three shows here in the Intermountain West, one in early March, one in early August and one in early November. Given that my maximum run of track is 8', with most being 6' or less, with gaps where the modules meet (no joiner tracks), there are no extremely long runs to expand and contract. But, my turnouts have never given me problems due to anything but scraping them off periodically during transport.

    I'm talking decades here. Some of my modules are getting to be almost 20 years old. No probs.

    I run both code 55 and code 40 trackage (ME (Railcraft actually) 55 flex and hand-laid code 40) and every turnout is hand-built on the bench. Once they're in place, glued down, painted, weathered and ballasted...they work. They can stay for a summer in the garage, or in the shed with ambient temps being over 100 deg. in the Summer and less than 0 deg in the Winter, but expansion and contraction don't mess with my trackwork for some reason.

    My modules are built using select pine L-girders, with 3/4" CDX plywood on the ends and backs, two layers of 1/8" Masonite glued together for the fascias, with the track laid on Midwest Cork roadbed, laid on 1" laminated Masonite subroadbed, with 2" Extruded Styrofoam Insulation as a scenery base. All joints are glued and screwed.

    That combo works for me in the dry, hot and cold climate of Utah. Maybe it wouldn't work so good where there was more humidity...but...maybe it would.

    Just sayin'....

    Cheers!
    Bob Gilmore
     
  15. robert3985

    robert3985 TrainBoard Member

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    I find it interesting that many hand-layers start laying their turnouts and diamonds in monolithic units. I know I do it as often as I can, and these (Sharkman's) are really nice, el-complicato combinations! COOL!!

    Cheers!
    Bob Gilmore
     
  16. robert3985

    robert3985 TrainBoard Member

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    Eric,

    Hope that does the trick!

    Cheers!
    Bob Gilmore
     

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