Part 6

4 curved #3 Three Way turnouts

Click on images for larger views….

This was a nasty little piece. All curved rail and frogs through 12 turnouts in the space that would fit 3 normal turnouts.

Hard to photograph too…

Since the switch points on these turnouts are very short, they will have to pivot in order to work properly. To do this I made the points/closure rails as a single piece, and just prior to installing on the layout I will cut the points off the closure rail with a jewelers saw and re-join with half a rail joiner soldered to the end of the closure rail. This will allow the point to pivot freely. To pivot the other end I will use the technique outlined in one of our previous newsletters.

This technique uses a spike soldered to the switch point that passes through the PC board throwbar. This allows the point end to also pivot freely.

This is an N scale code 55 turnout with this technique applied to the throw bar.

In the mean time, I have temporarily soldered the throw bars in place and am holding the points open with a small piece of PC board tie so I can play with the trackwork.

Part 6 with the quad diamond in place.

The business end of the Bronx Terminal. This piece marks the end of the real complex trackwork. Left to build are three single turnouts of various geometry and one crossover. Plus all the straight and radii track. I don’t anticipate this will take long to complete, and I will post images of the progress as I complete the pieces.

After that, it is a waiting game until our new building is complete and Fast Tracks moves out of my layout room!

On to Next Section

-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 | 04-16-2007 | 10:04 PM
Posted in: Latest Posts | Track Construction