My first hand built point is now complete, apart from the tie-bar and control mechanism. I started with the one closest to the rear of the layout, so my dodgy first attempt won't be too visible. Building it was quite a challenge, and has taken rather longer than I expected. I found that the Roy C Link crossing jig was at the wrong angle for a Y point, so I had to solder together the "v" on a paper template. On my first attempt I got the gap between the rails too large and it looked a bit crude, so I had another go and it looks much better. That seems to be a major advantage of hand building track - if it goes wrong you can pull it apart and try again without damaging anything expensive. It also seems to give the maximum amount of modelling time per pound spent on materials for any railway modelling activity I can think of.

Control of the point will be by a rod beneath the board, operable from either side, which will be attached via a wire to the tie bar, and to a DPST switch to control the frog polarity.