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Completing the Scenic Trackwork


craigwelsh

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With the main up and down lines completed and running before xmas the remaining scenic pointwork now needs completing and laying. Tonight Dick has been laying the goods loop at the right end of the layout on the outside of the running lines while i've made a start on the crossover from the branch down into the goods yard. I've started with the point on the main running line and will do the other point that leads onto the headshunt later. There is a board joint in between the two so they have been modified from the original templot 1:7s to something like a 1:6.5 and a 1:8 to avoid issues. This was the same sort of thing adopted for the good loop exit crossover.

 

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The running line is on a 110" radii with the turnout road on a 48" curve. The 110" curve used in the initial laying out of the 1st rail is in shot. This is the first bit of pure ply and rivet i've done and follows Dick's approach. Note I only fitted minimal sleepering at first and the other sleeps will go in later allowing the riveting to be more accurate. It also means its much easier to get it off the paper again as only 6 sleepers have tape on them!

 

Although I said the crossing on this was a 1:8 I ended up making a 1:7 from the Portsdown models jig as it fitted the plan better for some reason. I didn't bend the rail through the nose of the crossing just the loose rail sticking out. Wagons run nicely though it so far but I need to file up the blades and fit the check rails yet. Cosmetic chairs to finish after i've replaced the initial sleepers which had roughly placed rivets which end up a bit misaligned.

 

The Exactoscale 1:7 shows the straight nature of even the best settrack but also the extended nature of curved pointwork on the closure rails between crossing and switch.

 

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General view through the flow of the track.

 

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4 Comments


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Hmm, I ought to watch this subject... I've decided to move to P4, to give my locos that extra realism... but the articles I've read about making the turnouts continues to leave me cold and completely at a loss as to what it's all about... even the basics are loosing me B6, B7, B8 sizes ?... can't find any details to clarify this... even via the scalefour site... exactoscale or others... so I want to learn. I hope that something here might help.

Watching your progress with interest

Jon

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A turnout is made of two parts, a pair of switches and a crossing. The REA set of standard parts (used by everyone apart from the GWR/BR WR from the mid 20s, broadbrush speaking here!) basically had A,B,C,D,E and F switches getting larger radii each time and crossing of 1 in4 etc. B7 being B switches with a 1 in 7 crossing. These switches are flexible - rail flexes, older switches had a loose heel and rotated. I have an LMS book for designing the stuff and it gives the radii you could fit each set of bits into and the length of the closures - bit between the switches and the crossing.

 

 

GWR/BR WR didn't have an A switch but kept loose heel for that and did have stuff equivalent to B-E switches then went for 30', their crossings are also a bit different. GWR Switch and Crossing Practice by the GWR study group is the bible, C+L sell it.

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  • RMweb Gold

Hi Craig,

 

Any particular reason for using a hand-drawn template instead of one from Templot?

 

That must have taken a while to draw and I can't see anything on there which couldn't be done in Templot. The change of turnout road radius at the FP can be done by splitting into two partial templates (curviform crossings).

 

Timbers 13-14 should perhaps be more closely spaced for the stock rail joint? The REA spacing charts in BRT3 show 24" spacings for the stock rail joint, 26" spacings for the switch rail joint.

 

Looking good.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

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Dick doesn't use Templot and he seems to draw these things quite quickly (his double junction was in the current MRJ). I tend to draw mine like this as well now just in AutoCAD and not by hand.

 

I've never had the chance to sit down and learn Templot and I guess Dick hasn't either and had no need to when he finds it quick by hand. I know Templot could do these things and probably quite quickly once learnt.

 

Thanks for the pointer on the sleeper gap, I probably will shove the sleepers up a bit when I fill in the gaps and replace the initial ones that have the rivets a bit off now the gauges have been on it.

 

I'll try and write up a manual template creation sometime as people might find it interesting to compare.

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