loathar wrote:Some folks don't solder their turnouts. Makes it easier to replace them if they go bad...
I have soldered every turnout and have replaced only two of them in the course of forty years and seven layouts. The benefits of soldered joints far outweigh any issues with unsoldering them. Just use heat sinks, a hot iron and a copper desoldering wick or a desoldering suction bulb, the latter two items being available at Radio Shack.
John Timm
First shot of the yard.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
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The ground throw problem seems to have cured itself by letting everything cure overnight. But only time will tell for sure. Other then that I have spent most of the morning laying more cork and I'm ready to lay more trackage. Oh btw switching can be fun even with a foot on either side of the turnouts but I have to get use to it again, having too many derailments due to run a switch set the other way.
Stein, the runaround was a great idea! Thanks.
Back to work this Railroad ain't going to build itself ya know.
I thought about that but with 10 turnout all together and short 1 inch spacers in between them I see no trouble removing them in the future. Just cut the 1 inch sections. Be sides with duck tape and a Dremel I can fix anything. I have run into a small problem, as the ground throws are moving. I need to remove some foam under each one and put some wood under them up to ground level. Some I can get some meat under them to nail into as the nails are just not holding with 1/8th inch in wood after the foam. Even with caulking to help hold them down.
Except that he has a Dremel. Nothing removes a soldered joint like a Dremel with a reinforced cut-off wheel.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
SpaceMouse wrote:Feels good, don't it?
Yes it does. I'm installing the guides for the ground throws now. A "Dremel" makes a grove just right to hide them in. Once the guides tubes and guide wirers are glued in I can start working on the cork roadbed.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I got my feet wet today.
The first 10 turnouts are soldered and work just fine. Two or three sloppy solder joints but I can live with that now. I started with the hardest part of the turnout configuration (the right side of the yard). A little more practice with soldering rail joints and I should be able to make great joints. Maybe a new soldering tip or gun type iron? So where did I hide that marker, I want to trace the turnouts and get the cork down.
Note: The turnouts are the only things soldered for now. To let me adjust everything as I go along.
It feels great to see the beginnings starting to the Devinville yard taking shape.