To run P4 rolling stock you need P4 track.

P4 track is easy – obtainable RTR from C&L or ‘makeable’ from Easitrack or of course for the really keen made from components.

But points/turnouts/switches and common crossings?  The more affluent  can get someone to make their point-work but for most folk they must be constructed by hand from components. So that’s the place to start.

Having decided I needed a test track and that a test track must have at least one point I set about making one. A forage in the ‘odd track box’ that the local area group of the Scalefour Society has rendered a point kit made by 85A (Martin Wynne). The bag held ready filed switch blades and a ready made ‘V.’

I planned to use Exactoscale functional chairs and ordered the necessary sleepers, slides bridge and special chairs, some rail and fish-plates from C&L Finescale who provided a very quick service. I was ready.

Having previously experimented with Templot I created a left-handed B7 ‘templot’ to use as the basis for the turnout, stuck this down to a flat surface and positioned the sleepers accordingly. These were affixed with double sided tape.

Proceeding with great care I eventually arrived at the point where I needed to fix the switch blades. So I proceeded to cut them to length. A length that was too short. Bah!

I would have to make my own.

This turned out to be easier than I expected and following accepted practice as expounded in various places I filed the blades down and when satisfied fitted them in place.

The blades are only held in chairs at the heel end of the turnout. At the toe end the blades rest on the slide chairs and in modelling practice are effectively held down by the operating mechanism.

At this point I was ready to remove the point from the building board. And at this point things started to go wrong.

1. The double sided tape was rather more sticky than I expected. But worse was to come.
2. Slide chairs do not hold the track and I had forgotten to glue the slide chair to the outside of the stock rails. Thus several sleepers fell off.

Re-fixing the sleepers shouldn’t have been too hard. A little dab of super glue on the outside make sure the gauge is right and Hey Presto! all done.

3. But, I managed to stick the  track gauge t the rails. It set like rock.                                             4. Removing the gauge destroyed the switch end of the point. Aargh!

Fortunately the closure rails and the crossing were unaffected. Two quick cuts with the Dremel and the damaged rails were excised. New stock rails were cut and chairs fitted. Some of the ‘special chairs’ were ‘lost’ so I cobbled some together from bits.

This time I left the sleepers either side of the stretcher bars out to make soldering the various bits in this area easier.

Here’s ‘take 2:’

Next job is to make the TOU and affix feed wires.

Thanks for looking.