SWAN HILL

Hand built track seen from that kind of vantage point shows off to advantage why it is worth the effort. I would certainly be interested to hear more about your beautiful Swan

Awesome track work, everytime i see a photo like that it makes me realise how close together 00 gauge rails are.

First class work there on that lovely track work.

 

Do please show us more of what you are working on.

 

Another vote here for more info and photos please, this looks excellent so far.

Fabulous looking slips and point work, definitely looking forward to reading more!

...thanks for encouraging comments - I'll post more info/pics when to hand - maybe even later today!

KitPW

More please!

drduncam

Just found this blog and very pleased that I did, as above, lovely track work and definitely more please.

 

G

Fantastic work on the trackwork, the track geometry looks awesome. I would be interested to know what method and materials you use for the tie-bars as they look pretty realistic from what I can see in the photo.

 

Regards

Mark

“The point blades are joined using a version of the excellent system devised by David Nicolson and described in his article 'Floating Scale Pointwork' in MRJ 227 but amended dimensionally to make use of 2mm diam red plastic straws as supplied with WD40 (actually ex Ebay by the handful) for the insulating joiner. The rail section is drilled using jigs to control dimensions, all as described by David Nicolson, and the sleepers are set out to suit those dimensions.”
 

From ...a technical digression.

Took longer to copy and paste than find.

7 hours ago, Regularity said:

“The point blades are joined using a version of the excellent system devised by David Nicolson and described in his article 'Floating Scale Pointwork' in MRJ 227 but amended dimensionally to make use of 2mm diam red plastic straws as supplied with WD40 (actually ex Ebay by the handful) for the insulating joiner. The rail section is drilled using jigs to control dimensions, all as described by David Nicolson, and the sleepers are set out to suit those dimensions.”
 

From ...a technical digression.

Took longer to copy and paste than find.

Thank you. I wasn't aware of the David Nicolson system, very informative. I have been trying to come up with something in 4mm scale which looks convincing as a tie bar for handbuilt track. The latest material I am experimenting with is thin carbon rod.

MAP66 - I thought carbon rod would work but it carries electricity just as well as brass!  The method I developed from David Nicholson's description in MRJ227 is a bit overscale even in 7mm but has proved very robust in service and when painted looks the part.  I believe that it's possible to obtain plastic hyperdermic needles which might be a start point for a nearer to scale solution - particularly in 4mm - but I couldn't source any and settled on the 2mm WD40 plastic tube which was the smallest I could obtain at the time.  If you have any success finding h/d needles, let me know! The sketch below shows the cross section through the point stock rails and blades which explains the principle - I've added a few notes as I drew it to understand the dimensionality rather than work as an explanation of the method.  PM me if you don't have access to MRJ227 as it illustrates the very simple jigs and tools necessary to control dimensions.

Kit PW

I hadn't realised on the conductivity of carbon! Back to school for me, I should have paid more atttention during Physics or was it Chemistry. But then why do you have carbon brushes in motors - to conduct electricity, very silly of me not to have thought that through.

I'll PM you re.MRJ227 as I do not have access. Thanks for the above diagram, its still very helpful.

 

Mark

Lovely work