kyle - makeover III...
Evening all,
Something I mentioned in my last blog update was that I wanted to replace the turnout(s) which had intermittent faults. The more troublesome being the turnout in the station having power issues as well as the odd derailment when running around. The other suffers the occaisional derailments when reversing wagons.
Mark Fielder of this parish kindly offered to help me as viewers of my blogs know my track building skills need improvement Seeing as how I took this week off for 1/2 term, a day was arranged with Mark and yesterday we started by first analysing the problem. Essentially no power was getting to part of the frog area so generally the 37’s made it across it but the 26’s and 24’s were temperamental. It had to go rather than remove offending material.
We started with an overview of turnout building in PCB and rail as the previous turnouts I recall were built as a hybrid first easitrac kits with a few interlaced PCB sleepers. This time I wanted to use all PCB. We used the 2mm Association jigs and began with the straight rail, followed by constructing the V and then dropped this in after adding the curved rail. At this point I was happy for Mark to take the lead and I watch as the frog was always my downfall. Mark had lots of great tips and techniques which I hope to employ on the next turnout I construct. The tie bar is work in progress not helped by me leaving it at Mark’s house that afternoon!
This afternoon I decided to remove a few areas to make the work easier. Firstly, the removal of the telegraph pole, pallet and very fine TPM mesh fence which will be reinstated. The small projecting sign was also removed from the station building for good measure.
Next up, the fascia had to go to actually get into the area as it will need some creative thinking wielding a soldering iron at some point The fascia will be recut at work on the laser cutter but I will probably opt for a different material as card is a bit too vulnerable.
I then cut out the old turnout which had to be in pieces due to the ballast holding it firm. The wire in tube operation can just be seen poking through the platform so I hope to be able to link up with that. We made the turnout oversized and once I purchase some Xuron track cutters will trim it to the required length and then look at packers to bring it level. I will finish the tie bar and gap the turnout ready, cut to size and then (after a clean up) spray it grey primer before inserting it. Painting will only be completed once it is in place and trains are hopefully running smoothly. I will then make a judgement on whether I replace the other turnout which is located partially under the bridge
The deadline is to have it revamped in time for the Stafford show early February 2019 as that is a weekend show so I need the running to be much better than it is currently.
I would just like to extend my thanks to Mark Fielder again for his time, patience and help in building this turnout and I hope I can get it looking as good and as smoothing running as all his layouts
Here are a few pictures...
As always, comments welcome!
Thanks, Pete
- 19
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