martin_wynne

Hi Roy, Just click this button below where you type the text: It may say Browse or Choose or Select or something else, depending on your system (that's beyond my control). Then you can navigate to your box files folder to select the one you want. Your box files will normally be in the C:\TEMPLOT_DEV\BOX-FILES\ folder. If you are using CrossOver/Wine on a Mac, it may be easier to find it if you save it from Templot to a USB stick first. cheers, Martin.

Hi William, There is no logic to regarding turnouts with similar flexure as ok, but those with contraflexure as not ok. On the prototype each is a common as the other. I think you will find when constructed that dead straight turnouts within otherwise curving tracks will be noticeable and give a set-track effect. The problem with your original plan is not that some turnouts have contraflexure, but that those turnouts do not have curviform V-crossings. It is important to choose between a regular and curviform V-crossing every single time you create a template in Templot. That's why there is a quick-click green indicator at the top left of the screen. More info here: https://flashbackconnect.com/Movie.aspx?id=pu2F-wveux5-EWGYuqPd3g2 cheers, Martin.

Hi William, I think your first plan flowed better -- EXCEPT that you hadn't changed to curviform V-crossings where you had contraflexures. Generally you need to do that for Y-turnouts (Wye is a river ), unless they are part of a curved double-track crossover. More about all that in this video: https://flashbackconnect.com/Movie.aspx?id=pu2F-wveux5-EWGYuqPd3g2 cheers, Martin.

Second photo is not showing here (bad link). Here's the corrected URL: https://scontent.flhr2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/118745725_10214380587708575_7403363698923679407_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=07e735&_nc_ohc=3jzazqhFOl0AX98XfVD&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr2-1.fna&oh=648aec0c704115ffebc54709963148ac&oe=5F89E436

Or make your own toolmaker's clamp (cheap, disposable): Adjust the fulcrum screw until it's a couple of thou above the rail top. "penny washers" are large washers with a small hole, very handy around the layout, also called "mudguard washers", "repair washers", "reinforcing washers", "backing washers": https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/fasteners-fixings/nuts-washers/mudguard-washers/ cheers, Martin.

and carry a tail lamp.

Hi William, Is this a photo of an actual Peco production tandem turnout? If so, I've just noticed that there is a check rail missing (yellow): I imagine Peco have fixed it by now, because otherwise folks must surely have been reporting derailments? Is the other hand version the same? Perhaps it is just a published template from a pre-production item? cheers, Martin.

They may have been, but I wasn't. Always the infrastructure was far more interesting -- bridges, tunnels, towering viaducts,vast stations, intricate signalling, and yes the complex geometry of trackwork and junctions. The trains just flashed past and were gone, and let's be honest, one locomotive looks very much like any other. I don't think I was the only one to think that way. When the SVR took over Bewdley station, within months they ripped out a half-scissors crossover. So much for "preservation" I thought. All they were really interested in was playing with steam engines. Truly there has always been two completely different hobbies here. They tend to be treated as one, but they don't always sit happily together. Martin.

It's called a rail-way and a model rail-way. The defining feature of the whole thing is the fact that it runs on rails. It seems a bit daft to treat them as the Cinderella department of a model of it. If you just want to see pretty steam engines, you don't need rails: linked from http://www.steamscenes.org.uk Martin.

The correct figure is 44.67 mm (11ft-2in) track centres for 6ft way. Or on GWR / BR(W) lines, 44.83 mm (11ft-2.5in) track centres. Martin.

CMHR = Combustion Modified High Resilient foam (fire-retardant). Lots of suppliers, see for example: https://www.gbfoamdirect.co.uk/fire-retardant-foam-fire-safety-uk/ Martin.

Hi William, What are the gaps at the end of the stock rails for? (ringed violet): At the green ring, you will have a tricky gap in the copper-clad between the orange/pink rails. I would move the pink gap one timber to the left. At the blue rings it would be better to stagger the gaps by a couple of timbers to increase the strength of the finished item -- unless you are fitting prototypical plastic fishplates.

Hi William, If you get everyone to agree on a sequence it will be a miracle. I would start with the upper purple stock rail, taking care to get the set angle correct and properly aligned over the template. Then add the red vee, gauged from the stock rail and a straight edge from the switch front. Then add the light green wing/closure (in two pieces, it will need an isolating gap). You will then have a base from which everything else can be gauged. The pink wing/closure will need a gap in it, and each part can be fixed separately for gauging: pink vee, blue vee, light blue stock rail from them, pink wing rail from stock rail. It's a good idea to decide on all the isolation gaps before you start. The red and pink vees don't need a gap between them, they can be polarity-switched in one piece on the first switch. The blue vee is polarity-switched on the second switch. cheers, Martin.

Maybe they supplied code75 bullhead by mistake. Does it measure 0.075" (1.9mm), or 0.082" (2.1mm) height? I'm puzzled why they call it code 83? For UK flat-bottom rails 6.25" height it should be code 82. (Code 83 is 3.5mm/ft scale for American rails.) Martin.