Westport

Westport Terminal RR is a soaring company. It was shown that the old yard at Westport is no longer sufficient for the risen traffic. So it must be upgraded.

This is the new left side:



and the new right side:




First old Westport was "turned off" after the FREMO-meeting in Unna. The staging yard was daylightended.

 

Here're the new segments provisionally placed.



And now the segments are fit in, first the left curve with the connection segment:




Now the radius of the entry curve comes to. With 1,5m radius is that a completely beautifully large compass.

 

And for the center of the circle, in the middle of the passage, there was a special construction:



With cork as roadbed making the end of the grade was easy. But there will be the first turnouts!



Wolfgang

 

Looks like a major rebuilding project!

How long do you think until you get it up and running again???

 

Yes, it's a major project with a lot of work. But it's all fun, isn't it??

I want to run the first trains this year, that means with turnouts for switching.
And so I started:
Some time ago (month or years) I started with the trackplan. I made it with AutoCad. Now I used the latest drawing to print a template for the first turnout. I have soldered 100+ turnouts. So I need only the center line of the track. And I printed the border lines for the ties. This makes tie laying much more easy.



Here I've laid all PC board ties except the throw bar. Then I solder the two outer rails. The NMRA gauge has a mark for the center line. So it's easy to solder one rail with the corresponding mark.
BTW, the two radii are 1,5m and 1,0m (60'' and 39''). You can't buy it but I wanted such a radius for my room and for mainline.



Next step - the frog!
Here I start with one rail, usually with the rail of the diverging track. One rail end is filed as needed. (For more information look at my scratchbuilding turnout site.) I find the place by testing with the NMRA gauge. This method is easy, fast and precise enough.
Then I solder the second frog rail. You see, the frog is build exactly by only one rail!



Next step, soldering the stock rails. Next time.
BTW, look at the Fast Track video. It's a great inspiration.

Wolfgang

 

I filed the points, looked for the kinck and soldered the stock rails.



Some testing ...



And the turnout in its future place:

 

Looking at the curved turnout:



A critical item are the points and throwbar. I use also a PC tie. But I drill a 0,5mm (about 1/32'') hole through the points and use a little bit of wire for holding. The hole in the middle is for the actuating wire from the tortoise (for this turnout).



And looking from down:

 

I can only look in amazement.
Great stuff as usual.

verse

 

Now I´m busy with the next three turnouts. Ties are coming. :angel:
Radii from the tracks: 1450 mm and diverging tracks are 1000 mm respectively 3000 mm! (57´´, 39´´ resp. 118´´)!



Wolfgang

 

A weekend gives time, time for turnout building.
This was the start on Friday, all ties laid (I didn't count them):



I build the frog with staggered rails, so I have the full angle:





Here you see the outer rail, radius nearly 5' !

 

And at last I placed the whole string of turnouts at their future place.





And I worked for the next part, more ties:



Wolfgang

 

Great Turnouts!

It really is nice, Wolfgang. Those wonderful, flowing curves in a yard are really a highlight of any layout, I think. Having those large radii just adds to the beauty of the project. Very, very nice yard.

 

I've started laying track at the right, the east side of Westport. At first I had again to draw the curve. I made my big compass:



The decreasing grade started at the yard entrance. The first turnouts are at the grade (about 1.6 % ). With cork as roadbed I digged the marked-out route.



Now I can start again glueing ties and soldering turnouts.
(You can see these pictures in big size at my Westport site.)

Wolfgang

 

Wolfgang,

Are the ties copper plated with an insulating gap at the center when you buy them, or do you have to cut a gap?

(I was thinking if each tie was plated with a gap, it would not show as much as if a gap were cut or ground off. then painted. A gap in the center would aid in alignment too.)

 

Watash, no they aren't. I cut the stripes from big PC board. (Look a few posts ago) These stripes I cut with rail nipper to suitable length and glue them to the paper drawing.
The insulating gap comes when the turnout is ready. Then I make the cuts for isolating the frog, too.

Wolfgang