A multimeter or voltmeter will test for the presence of voltage on the turnout.
But, I use a different test. If a locomotive stalls on a turnout, I will transfer power onto the turnout with a pair of wires with alligator clips on both ends. If the locomotive moves, then the turnout needs to be powered with feeders or soldered rail joiners.
In other words, I will clip the end of each wire onto a powered section of straight track adjacent to the turnout, applying one wire to each rail. The other end of each wire is clipped onto the turnout. Be sure not to cross the wires, keep them in phase.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain The short answer is no, I don't. At this point I have a loop wired with only one connection to it. All the turnouts lead to track that isn't in operation yet as I want to wire them into blocks. I'll take a picture of the layout and post it so you can see what I have so far. Might take a bit of time to follow the MRR protocols / instructions properly. Thanks, charles Ablebakercharlie Got it. I'll take a look at the turnouts again to make sure they are level and run the steam locos over them again to see what happens. To clarify on my end - I'm having difficulties with evey steam loco I've tried (going forwards) on every turnout on the layout (hesitating or stopping altogether) while the diesels have been no issue at all going fowards or backwards. -charles Charles, have you wired all three ends of each and every turnout? That is really the key to keeping steam locomotives moving, without hesitating or stopping, over turnouts. Rich
The short answer is no, I don't. At this point I have a loop wired with only one connection to it. All the turnouts lead to track that isn't in operation yet as I want to wire them into blocks.
I'll take a picture of the layout and post it so you can see what I have so far. Might take a bit of time to follow the MRR protocols / instructions properly.
Thanks,
charles
Ablebakercharlie Got it. I'll take a look at the turnouts again to make sure they are level and run the steam locos over them again to see what happens. To clarify on my end - I'm having difficulties with evey steam loco I've tried (going forwards) on every turnout on the layout (hesitating or stopping altogether) while the diesels have been no issue at all going fowards or backwards. -charles
Got it. I'll take a look at the turnouts again to make sure they are level and run the steam locos over them again to see what happens.
To clarify on my end - I'm having difficulties with evey steam loco I've tried (going forwards) on every turnout on the layout (hesitating or stopping altogether) while the diesels have been no issue at all going fowards or backwards.
-charles
Charles, have you wired all three ends of each and every turnout? That is really the key to keeping steam locomotives moving, without hesitating or stopping, over turnouts.
What I was trying to say is that track can be laid well enough for steam locomotives as well as diesels. However, steam locomotives can be finicky when moving in reverse over turnouts, usually due to lightweight trailing trucks if they are too springy. Added weight on the trailing trucks will usually solve that problem.
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Ablebakercharlie Steam locomotives should have no trouble traversing well laid track, at least moving forward. Moving in reverse is a whole different issue. Rich How can track be laid well enough for diesels but not steam locos? I don't understand.
Steam locomotives should have no trouble traversing well laid track, at least moving forward. Moving in reverse is a whole different issue.
How can track be laid well enough for diesels but not steam locos? I don't understand.
Ablebakercharlie richhotrain Ablebakercharlie Testing the track so far I have had no serious derailments No "serious" derailments? Isn't a derailment a derailment? Rich Good point! I guess what I meant was that there were no track anomolies that were causing consistent derailments. For example - one derailment was caused by a track pin on the rails.
richhotrain Ablebakercharlie Testing the track so far I have had no serious derailments No "serious" derailments? Isn't a derailment a derailment? Rich
Ablebakercharlie Testing the track so far I have had no serious derailments
Testing the track so far I have had no serious derailments
No "serious" derailments? Isn't a derailment a derailment?
Never seems to amaze me how fix derailments!
Glad that the OP is doing well in laying track. I'd suggest waiting awhile before ballasting. That's a PITA to fix if a derailment occurs!
Water Level Route richhotrain Steam locomotives should have no trouble traversing well laid track, at least moving forward. Moving in reverse is a whole different issue. This sounds like experience talking. The only issue I've had was with a Bachmann light Mountain where the trailing truck was too light. It was fine running forward, but would derail running over switches in reverse. A little lead solved that problem. My other steamers run fine. Must be more to the story here. Do tell.
richhotrain Steam locomotives should have no trouble traversing well laid track, at least moving forward. Moving in reverse is a whole different issue.
This sounds like experience talking. The only issue I've had was with a Bachmann light Mountain where the trailing truck was too light. It was fine running forward, but would derail running over switches in reverse. A little lead solved that problem. My other steamers run fine. Must be more to the story here. Do tell.
richhotrainSteam locomotives should have no trouble traversing well laid track, at least moving forward. Moving in reverse is a whole different issue.
Mike
Ablebakercharlie However, I am having an issue with running steam locos through switches but not the diesels.
However, I am having an issue with running steam locos through switches but not the diesels.
Curious how the OP is making due on laying track. That's not an activity I'd wanna do in the summer. Give me the cool basement any day!
Since you asked....
It is going well! I'm taking it slow - working in the morning or the early evening when it is cooler in the garage, also have a fan blowing. I have about 80% of the track down. I have a 16ft run remaining that rises and falls about 2 inches so I am leaving that bit for last. I want to make a jig to run a strip of foam board on a table saw to get an even incline. Then I'll glue down the foamboard, add the cork on top and then pin down the track.
Testing the track so far I have had no serious derailments so my plodding is paying off. However, I am having an issue with running steam locos through switches but not the diesels. (getting hesitations or outright stopping) I am going to post a new subject query about this to ask the forum to help troubleshoot.
Looking forward to finishing the track and moving on to the wiring and then scenery.....
- charles
My layout is 2 inch foamboard on top of 1/2 inch plywood. Foamboard does not hold any kind of fastener and neither does cork. I didn't want to glue the track down because fixing problems, a kink, a too tight radius, whatever, is difficult to impossible. I like to put the track down with track nails so I can fix those little problems that always seem to come up. So I made all my roadbed from soft pine that will take track nails
I used my band saw to resaw 3/4 inch boards down to 1/4 inch. Then I cut each piece of pine roadbed to shape with the band saw and used my router table to put the 45 degree edges on it. In fact I bought the band saw just for doing the roadbed. It was only $50 off Craigs list for an old 12 inch Craftsman.
I used Tortoise under table switch machines which require a 1/2 inch hole to bring the operating rod up to the turnout. Since the holes cannot be relocated, I laid out the turnout and drilled the holes. Then I laid flex track right up to the turnouts. I had a supply of code 100 nickel silver flex track so I used it. After brush painting the sides of the rails with rail brown the rails looked a good deal smaller than they had with the entire rail bright nickel silver.
You want to get "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" by John Armstrong. It is full of invaluable information.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I did a treatise on "Reliable Track" in the Rail Modeller Australia October 20 Magazine. You can download it at https://railmodelleraustralia.com/downloads.html
along with the 6 other issues to date, - a small donation would be helpful to keep the mag going
Hope this helps,
Cheers from Australia
Trevor
If the turn back blobs on a simple dogbone are going to be 22 inch radius, there is not much point to building a trammel that will draw a 22 inch radius center line. Just lay the 22 inch radius sectional track.
The point is that you might want to shift the loop side to side along the benchwork to accomodate slight changes to the plan. If this happens, you're not really saving any time by drawing the centerline first because you will just have to redraw the line or reposition the track any way.
No big deal though. Build the trammel and draw the line if you like.
- Douglas
Sounds like I should definitely add a trammel to the arsenal of tools that I have.
I like the idea of using a non-elastic material like wood and drilling holes at different points. Although dental floss does sound compelling....
It was just too hot yesterday in the garage where the benchwork is set up so I am going to wait till early evening tonight to start.
Thanks again everyone for your advice. I look forward to hitting you all up with more questions!
Dental floss? I have used that stuff to repair backpacks and the woven backs of deck chairs.
AblebakercharlieBut back to the track laying part - maybe I should ask it this way - with the whole bench a blank slate to fill where did you start and why did you start there?
I would start with a piece of paper, a pencil, a "C-Thru" ruler and a circle template.
Then I would start designing the biggest, hardest to move things first. Turn back loops that have to go at the ends, large yards. Draw them to the scale of your drawing (3/4" to a foot scale, where 1/16" =an inch or 1 1/2" to a foot scale , where 1/8" = a foot.) If you want go to to a Walmart and buy a package of paper in the moving supplies area. Cheap pieces of big paper.
TRy drawing the different parts you want, the yard, a engine facility, a switching area or a particular industry. Scan them and print out copies to the drawing scale. Reverse the scans right to left and print out copies to the drawing scale. Then draw the benchwork footprint, cut out the various track plan parts from the copies and then play around rearranging them on the footprint. If you get close, then modify the drawing to be closer to what you want. That will allow you to figure stuff out without redrawing everything every time.
Another alternative is to scan a left and right hand switches in the size and type you want. Then make a couple dozen prints of the switches and cut them out. Use the full size print outs to "lay track" using the paper switches. You can attach them with tape, don't like it cut or pull of the tape and try again. That allows you to quickly see what the design will look like. Tape some packing paper to the benchwork and then tape or rubber cement the switches to it. I use a 4 ft long, 2 inch wide aluminum ruler to draw parallel tracks, very handy. Doing it full size you can set cars or locomotives on the plan to see how thing fit.
If you have flex track, you can position the paper switches and then use pins to locat the flex track to text curves and connections between switches.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
LastspikemikeAnother type of trammel substitute is a string on a nail.
Monofilament is better, but still 'elastic'. I think the right answer is hard solid wire.
This is like the situation where you excitedly tile out your trackplan from something like 3DPlanIt (sorry if dating myself here) only to find out that your printer isn't calibrated to produce exact 100% scale. I came upon this all unawares when doing Pasteur using an office copier -- each generation got smaller and smaller before I noticed it wasn't lining up. The 'traditional' way around this was the counterpart of the instruction to the blueprint service 'make this line exactly xxx inches' -- you draw a precise datum line, and adjust the print magnification in software until the output is as close as can be.
Of course sometimes cheaper printers turn out not to be precise, as well as not to be accurate...
A trammel is almost a must for many of us. A screw driven through near one end of a length of lath or strapping. Then, about 15 inches out, begin drilling a 1/4" hole every inch until you run out of length. Label each hole per its purported radius value from that screw back yonder. Anchor the screw end, maybe on a tripod or something, place the tripod at a suitable location to be the center of the arc you're about to draw, insert sharpened pencil into the correct hole for the radius you intend, and draw what will be your centerline on whatever you're going to lay roadbed and then track on.
Just very quickly, when I am about to commence benchwork construction, and already have a reasonable plan drawn up to scale on large graph paper, I lay out my track plan using 1" masking tape, the cheapest I can buy. I use whatever flooring is going to be below the layout, and lay the tape out directly on the floor.
If my radii are all correct, and I haven't fudged turnout lengths/angles, and I get my mains to close the loop, then I know I can build my benchwork above this 'depiction' and it will all fit inside.
Ablebakercharlie Thanks very much for the pics to illustrate your technique. Very helpful. I love the even spacing you have for all the tracks even through the curves. - charles
Thanks very much for the pics to illustrate your technique. Very helpful.
I love the even spacing you have for all the tracks even through the curves.
There was some trial and error getting the curve center lines laid out. The reason is the parallel straight tracks are just a hair over 2 inches track centers, but the track centers on curves must be substantially wider apart so long rolling stock won't hit models on adjacent tracks.
Notice that radius's on these curves are not simply in incriments of 2 1/2 inches. They are what ever I could work out to maintain wider track centers and still line back up with the straights on either end.
If you click on the picture below, you can see a larger versoin where you can see the markings better.
And if you are wondering how I drew those curve center lines, I bought a 4 foot stick at Lowes and made a Trammel, which I can stick a pencil in one end and a small nail in the other and swing it around like a giant compass. In this case I managed to mount it on a camera tripod so I could posiition it just right to draw the curve center lines:
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Before installing bus wires, I already had a good idea where the track was going. It's not precise. Within a foot of the track is generally close enough. I built my layout using 2 inch foam over a wood frame, so I mostly just wanted to get small holes drilled correctly in the frame.
Develop a color code and stick to it. I use red and black for my track bus and generally blue and white for my lighting us. My track feeders use the same color code.
If you are using modular construction, you might want to think about terminal blocks on module boundaries. This may just seem like a nuisance now, but if you ever want to move the layout you'll be glad you did.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I'm happy that my question provoked you to respond for the first time. I will take your advice to heart.
I've always been a lurker on forums, using them to learn from other people's questions instead of posting my own, so starting to post specific questions is completely new to me. I don't feel like such a luddite now! At least not so much...
Ablebakercharlie It looks to me that there are many pitfalls I could fall into if the direction of the track goes askew or if track doesn't line up etc. For example - it seems to me that I should start at a point with fixed track like the 9" straight pieces and then use the flex track when I get to it as my sort of wiggle room to make sure everything fits together. How does that sound?
Hi ABC,
This is the first time I will have responded to someone ELSE's cry for help. I joined about when you did and I have reaped heaps of useful info from the gang here. But take my comments with a grain or two of NaCl, since I'm barely even ahead of you down the pike. I've laid my cork and I'm now practicing my soldering chops so I can put some track down.
Good luck and let us know how it's going.
-Matt
Ablebakercharlie Thanks everyone for your input. Greatly apprecitated. I'm going to digest all of your great suggestions and then start laying some track today. If I run into any snags I'll let you know.
Thanks everyone for your input. Greatly apprecitated.
I'm going to digest all of your great suggestions and then start laying some track today. If I run into any snags I'll let you know.
This may seem like more work than what is needed, but here is my advice.
I would start by using 22 inch radius sectional track and form the blobs first to see how they fit.
If you have a nest of several turnouts close together, possibly if it creates crossings, lay those out too.
Fill in the center part with flex track or sectional as needed. As you do this, you may find that you might have to adjust the angles/position of turnouts to avoid sharp curves or kinks or funky little S curves.
Since this is your first layout, and its modest sized, I would layout all of the track on to the foam if you can "dry" as RioGrande put it. (if you have grades and over under situation this might not be doable)
I would then trace the track.
Take up the track and draw a center line through the track lines. This is where you will lay each half of the cork roadbed (starting with the backside half so you can see the center line....duh). And secure it. Those track lines now become irrelevant.
This should get you to a good place in transferring your plan on paper to your cork roadbed, having worked out the angles and fitment by laying out all of the track beforehand.
Then simply lay the track on the roadbed, wire, and secure (or visa versa depending upon preference.)
Aside from how you secure the track (track nails vs adhesive), I lay my track using curves and turnout location as the "control" points. The rest fits to them.
- first I draw centerlines where the track will go, such as curve centerlines and straight area centerlines.
- for a yard, I line up where the turnouts will go keeping in mind the turnouts at either end may have to match up with curves.
Here you can see how i drew center lines so that easement were built in where they join the straight away. The flex track gently spirals away from the curve centerline about 9 inches from the meeting point and joins the straight line about 9 inches past the meeting point. The result is a smooth flowing eased curve.
1) draw center lines.
2) "dry" lay the track to make sure critical points line up and work as predected and so the track will flow smoothly.
3) fasten the track down (in yards may be fastened directly to the substrate or mainline area's you may want to fasten down cork first with the inside split edge on the centerline.)