Curved Turnout
Lines in the snow
click to enlarge…..
I love the look of trackwork in snow. Eliminating the ties highlights the beauty of the geometry of two parallel lines, especially on a curved turnout.
An interesting detail shows on this curved turnout, adjacent to the right hand switch point is a short guardrail that will force the wheel flange away from the switch point, keeping the wheels from picking the points as the flanges rub along the inside of the rail. The turnout is thrown in the wrong direction in this image for it to work, but if you imagine the points the other direction you can see how this would work, the guard rail will push against the outside of the wheel therefore shoving the wheel away from the points.
-Tim
About the Author:
I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!
Posted by: Tim | 03-13-2008 | 10:03 AM
Posted in: Picture of the Day
This short guardrail is commonly known as a “point protector”. They are typically installed where the predominant route through the turnout is the diverging route (i.e. the mainline is through the diverging route), or in cases where the diverging route is sharp, and the potential for picking a point is higher (like in your shot above).
As you described, they aid in preventing flanges from picking points by nudging each wheel over slightly just before the tip of the point. This also has the effect of reducing wear/damage near the tip of the diverging point (which generally suffers the most abuse from the flanges) and thus extending the life of the point.
Hope that helps!