A question for all.... how do ya'll make the space for the point rail to fit into, you know the notch, fer lack of better of a better term, after seeing, jesper's work and the work of Bill Denton's Kingsbury branch, I am thinking about hand laying a small portion of my free lanced SOO LINE fox river sub. Are they kits you purchase , or some other way?. By the way, Jesper, awesome work. Do you also spike the cd40 or just solder and glue it? And one more thing, you guys all of ya, you give me inspiration , incredible work by all. Heck I just finished a intermountain, 4750 cov hop the kit!!!, Looks hard, just took my time, hate to weather it!!!! . But I look at the good point, all cars have MT low profile wheels and couplers at proper height, also proper weights also. Made that a cree of my mini empire. Preperation eases a troubled mind, I will have proper working equipment, a bigger joy to run and watch. Adios from texas, where for a solid week it has not rained Wyatt
Wyatt, There are several good web sites with information on how to hand lay turnouts. These are the links I have in my Favorites folder http://www.wic.net/trainworx/ http://www.railwayeng.com/ http://www.railwayeng.com/handlay6/hndly-s3.htm http://www.gatewaynmra.org/meyertrk.htm http://www.awrr.com/turnouts.html And of course San Diego SDSons http://www.sdsons.org/Club%20Standards/turnouts.html In addition to these online links, I bought the book “Trackwork Detail” (or something like that) which also includes description of both HO hand build turnout and N scale turnout. I solder the rails to the PC board, I don’t think there are any spikes small enough for code 40, and even if there was, my hand are probably not steady enough for a precision job like that. Solder is easy. If you want to try hand-building turnouts, I would recommend you to buy a pair of 3point gauge from ME, a set of roller gauge from railwayeng and of course the mandatory NMRA gauge. The 3point gauge and roller gauge are perfect for holding the rail while soldering (or spiking I guess). Hope that you will give hand laying a try. I find it enjoying. Jesper
[how do ya'll make the space for the point rail to fit into, you know the notch] The trick to making very smooth turnouts is to not have a "notch". What you want is the point to go under the head of the stock rail. Go and look at some real prototype railroad turnouts. To do this I grind away the base of the stock rail being very careful not to remove any of the head of the stock rail. Then when you make the point rail, remove the base and head on the side that contacts the stock rail. After you have this nice and smooth, file down and taper the the top of the head to the end of the point rail so it slides under the head of the stock rail. David
That sounds like an interesting method, but I don't think it's do-able with code 40 rail (or maybe my fingers are just too big), so what I do is to file the head, base and part of the web where the point meets the stock rail. David, what size rail do you try it with?, and do you have any pictures of it? Jesper
thanks guys!!!, Jesper thanx for links they are very helpful, I like the san diego idea of ballasting before rail laying. David, good ideas on the point rails, will make picking a point a non item, I do not know how many times I have ran aground from the damn points, but also, If I would have done some prepping of the turnout that would not happen. The hand laid track looks so much better!!!!. One article hit the nail on the head, you dont have to use a pre manufactured turnout, you can custom fit ur own product in the right of way, the more and more I think about it, I am going to try laying a little test section this weekend, maybe if I can get the camera to work right I will post some pics. I can see it now,,,,,,, soo line f's in the maroon and delux gold shoving a grain loading box on to a siding of hand layed track!!!! But if I can only pin down a darn track plan. I have all the ideas upstairs , but just dont know how to make it all work. Adios from texas, Wyatt
Well, I liked that idea also until I tried it, man, what a pain in the ... to clean the glue of the ties before you solder it, so I gave up on that. So now I first paint the rail (after it's done with feeder and tested) then ballast, remove as much ballast as possible from rails and ties while glue is wet. When glue is dry I remove whatever ballast may be left on the ties rails and do a touch up paint of the ties and rails, and then finally I give it all a light coat of grimy black to blend / tone down the "new" look of the ballast. Jesper
Jesper, Since you put that way... oh well But if it was easy it would not be worth it!!!! Plus another item, I am in no big hurry to accomplish the mighty empire, I have a lil oval with some sidings. I would rather produce quality and not quantity. I wonder,,,, what if you took all the PC ties bunched them together, put masking tape on the tops, cut the tape to provide individual masked ties and proceeded with the pre ballasting, so it would give you a barrier to stop the glue??????,,,,,,hmmmmm. Or what about a eye dropper for applying the glue mixture,,,, apply glue fer ties and such,,,, apply ballast, then use the eye dropper to apply glue to where you think you might need some extra?????hmmmmmm. Well heck time fer work, adios from texas, once again Jesper, nice work on the track in testville.............Wyatt
jkristia, In response to your question about what size rail I use, I mainly use code 83 and 70 for my HO layout. However, I did build one code 40 N scale turnout for a friend. I thought I was going to go blind. No I don't have any pictures. Maybe someone will bring a digital camera to my next operating session and I will have them take some pictures. One thing I have learned from the experience of working with smaller rail sizes, it is much easier to work on the pre-weathered rail. The contrast between the weathered part of the rail and the part you are filing makes the work a lot easier.
Here's a pic of a test section of HO - HOn3 dual guage that I hand laid using code 70 rail. It is primitive, but it works and I learned valuable information about how and when to place the various components. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Don't be afraid to try things that are new. Don't expect to be perfect the first time out of the roundhouse either Hand laying rail is sooo much fun!! [ 14. March 2003, 16:53: Message edited by: Ironhorseman ]
wow, a dual gauge turnout really looks complicated, but I guess it's almost "just" like building a regular turnout, one piece at a time and lots of patient. Nice work Bill. Jesper
Thanks Jesper .. the most difficult part for me was getting the two lower points to close against the stock rail together.
Bill, NICE work! That turnout is spectacular looking... If possible, i'd like to see more of the same turnout, just more of the frog area na the points etc..... to see how you aligned the narrow gaude an the standard gauge tracks for the frogs.. etc. thats an interesting turnout! Any 3 ways or anything more in the turnout switches etc on your layout. hand laid. DANG that looks FUN! ?????
John .. thanks for the compliments. I appreciate that you can appreciate the work that went into constructing the dual-gauge turnout. I do not have anything like 3 way or slip-switches *yet*. But I know it would be a blast to try and make them. Maybe some day, but right now, I don't really have any need for either of them. I'll have to take another photo showing the detail(s) you asked for. I'll get them in here ASAP
John and Bill, here's a real one. Unfortunately it's a video freeze frame so not as clear as it could be. Colorado RR museum, 1995 I think, where they have dual guage track on the grounds.
Jim .. that's a cool photo! I have never seen a real dual gauge turnout. Thanks for sharing it with us. John, I hope these photos show what you want them to: First the frog(s): Next the point(s):
Thanks Jim! Nice to see something real! Bill, that had to take forever (or seem like it) that is some work you did on that dual gauge turnout.. shesh! An I thought it was fun laying snap track "pre-fab" compared to that hand laid stuff........
Yes John .. It took a little while to make it, but I was in no hurry. All you need are a couple of standard gauge track gauges and a couple of HOn3 track guages to make any turn out. (It also helps to have NMRA guage for each as well). I urge you to give it a try ... build a simple 'normal' turnout or two. I think you would be surprised to see just how easy, and fun it is to do The real beauty of hand laying rail and turnouts is you can fit them into any particular situation that your layout demands ... limited only by the type of rolling stock that you will operate on it. If you *do* give it a try .. let me know how you're doing with it as you go along. While I am no expert at it, I'd be happy to answer any question(s) you might have too.
Bill, This is all in good timing! I want to build a small but detailed "Diorama" of a famous location in my area to set a part of a train on, 3 to 4 short cars, or 2 to 3 large cars an an loco emerging from a tunnel. Sand Patch Tunnel that is... To display my loco's an a few cars etc for the shop. Anyway, to do this an make my own hand laid track for this would be a GREAT start! And a good learning point! First questions: Where do I get ties? or what would/do you use for ties? And where do I get the rail, an "miniture" spikes, and/or what do you use for spikes? [ 17. March 2003, 08:36: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
Bill, Great looking turnout! I've been handlaying for a long time but not being into narrow gauge have never done dual gauge turnouts. Looks real impressive! John, if your goal is to practice handlaying then fine, go ahead and handlay your dirama. However, if your goal is the best possible appearance, use one of the better flex tracks available (ie, not Atlas) Much as I hate to admit it, this track looks better than handlaid due to its detailed tie plates and such. when painted properly, they really stand out. Nowadays I only handlay turnouts and use flex track elsewhere. Handlaid turnouts still outperform any commercial ones in my opinion. Gary
John .. The rail I use is 'Shinohara' or 'Craft' code 70 rail. You can get plain nickelsilver or chemically blackened rail. I would recommend staying away from the blackened stuff because it's black on the tops of the rails too. The ties I use are 'Profile ties' made by Campbell Scale Models. They are not dyed in the package and come in lots of 1000. But they *do* come with a template and instructions in each pkg. Any better hobby shop should have a supply of rail, ties and spikes. If they don't have them in stock, they should certainly be able to order it for you, or you can order it from your favorite on-line hobby supplier. I would also recommend that you find a good book on hand laying track. I have one called "Trackwork Handbook" by Paul Mallery and published by Boynton & Associates. I don't know if it is still in print as my copy is the 1977 edition. When you buy spikes, be sure they are as small as you can get! Otherwise, the flanges on the wheels can run over the tops of some of them and cause derail problems. For that very reason, I have gone to the hot-glue method for attaching the rail to the ties. Gary has a good and valid point about your better flex track. (Thank you for your compliment too Gary )I personally, prefer the varied tie colors produced by dying the ties, which have different degrees of density thereby resulting in different shades and look like ties of different ages (to me anyway ). The ties I have under the rails on my dual gauge photos are not dyed. I also dislike the perfect alignment and spacing of flextrack ties. I have yet to see a prototypical railroad where all the ties are equally spaced and perpendicular to the rails. All in all, you will have to make up your own mind what you like and how you want to present it to others who view your layout, or diorama. You will enjoy it very much, no matter what you decide, I'm sure
