Ive been making some switches too. the prices are too high to buy large radius switches. I have made about 5 of them so far they take a day or so each. They are hard to make but fun! This is the toughest one I made. it is a three way stub switch--no points just lots of frogs. it is modeled after a similar switch on the WW&F. the frogs are made using bent rails silver soldered together. As I run live steam I do not have to worry about electrical isolation.
I have also volunteered at the WW&F railway museum in Alna Maine. this is a two foot gauge railway entirely rebuilt by us volunteers.here is a little video of track work:
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Winnegance and Quebec Railway
Eric Schade Gen'l Manager
Rex,
The full-scale guys tamp the ballast rocks around and under the ties to get it level and even.
I built a switch a few years ago and learned a few lessons myself. When I rebuilt the switch I put stringers under the ties, in line with the rails, to make it more ridged. The ballast hides them so they aren't visible. Also, even though I used ceder, I treaded the wood with Woolmanizer to help preserve the wood. Ceder doesn't rot very quickly, but when it gets too wet it can warp. The Woolmanizer and stringers prevent this. As for my switch machine, since my switch is on a reverse loop, and the trains always enter the loop in the same direction, I used a brass rod as a spring for my spring switch. The throw-bar has a hole drilled near its end and another hole is drilled in a tie near the frog, near its end. Then about 2 ties closer to the points is a spike that acts as a fulcrum for the rod/spring. The ends of the rod are bent down at 90- degrees to fit into the holes and the rod presses lightly against the spike. Its weak enough that when the trains exit the loop they can push the points over, but strong enough to bring the points back to the stock rail to send the next train into the loop the correct way.
I also learned that Bondo isn't quite durable enough to make the frog out of, so in the rebuild I made the frog out of JB weld, Its held up through the winter much better.
I'm still tinkering with my first turnout. It is almost done but now I'm out of gauge in a spot near the points and need to fix that. This first switch was a learning experience so if it ever gets finished it will be stuck in somewhere were it won't see much use. The next one should build quicker and be of better quality.
My RR is long so what I usually do is send a train on its way then meet it where it is going so I can throw the switches manually. I have one switch on my WYE that is out of the way and I used a greased cable in a plastic tube about 8 feet long to actuate that one. Your air controls are a neat way to go but cost is always a concern on my RR.
Todd,
I've seen film clips of those track levelers complete with ballast refurbishment. I don't think they had those when first building those early railroads. Yes I should have run the boards thru the saw both ways - lesson learned.
Right now I've finished building a #5 turnout with narrow gage tie size/spacing. I'm waiting on the manual ground throw which cost about $15. Then I'll see if I can make one of those too since I'm cheap. What do you plan to use to control your turnouts? Most of mine on the main lines are air controls.
Rex
With the cost of switches being so high I'm thinking about making a few from the plans you mentioned.
In answer to your trouble in the real world 1/16th of an inch is nothing but in our scale world it is several inches. It might be a good idea to rip your ties twice along 2 edges just in case or do liek the author did and buy the ties.
I nthe real world they have machines that raise or lower the track and backfill it with ballast. You can find some really neat videos of the operation online.
Todd
They dig deeper and backfill to flat tops. Which is a bit harder for us to do.
Tom Trigg
Okay I'm building a bunch of turnouts from the June and August 2009 GR articles and I've learned another lesson the hard way - The tie platform must be FLAT. You guessed it. Mine wasn't flat. Some of my ties were taller than the others which I discovered only after laying down the base rail. To fix the problem I had to pull all those spikes and remove the rail so I could use my long sanding bar to take as much as a 1/16th of an inch off the high ones. Just because I made the ties from the same fence picket didn't mean the picket was the same thickness down the entire length.
I wonder how the full-scale guys manage to build a flat tie bed?
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