Hayfield2

Alan Just stunning !!

Prte On the stock rails yes where the switch rail would touch. The blades, one side filed flat (which touches the stock rail) the other side I only filed the head and web leaving the foot as it is

Turnout is progressing, both switch blades now made and the second is being fitted with the second check rail to follow In some ways the common crossing was a bit more fiddly than I expected, but the switch rails were not as bad as I feared

Peter I have not mentioned Colin, he is a lovely chap and I have discussed his track parts with him and seen him at a couple of shows. Also have spoken with someone who is using his parts to build a layout. But what I have seen with Colin's kits is the turnouts are very much bigger than most of us use and are of etched parts which are soldered to copperclad sleepers. In some ways they are very much more detailed providing that the style of parts matches the era/location/region you are modelling What I am doing is a bit of a half way house between what is provided by the RTR brigade and going full rivet counting, it is a compromise but far better than what's available out of a box. And of course can be built to fit the location. How many GWR layouts have 2 bolt chairs on their sleepers, not many. Or LSWR where the 2 bolts on a 3 bolt chair are on the outside of the rail, not inside. In the end we have to use what's available to us and in a format we are happy to use This is a terrific resource for the modern era modeller http://www.mmrs.co.uk/technical/track.html from THE MANCHESTER MODEL RAILWAY SOCIETY

I have had a look at the photos I took at Lostwithiel station, not too much help as they are using a different rail clip and have slide chairs completely different to what is available Anyway a start with the common crossing in place and the first stock rail laid Here are 2 photos of a main line turnout, not much use as fay bigger than I am building, but gives a flavour of what is required

Martin Both rails came from C&L, bullhead is the HiNi and the Flatbottom was bought less than a year ago. I hear what you say but the DCC Concepts packing does state that its for flatbottom rail and it fits it. Strange !! The one worry I have is that the rail may be held vertical and I don't know if the C&L ST chairs have the cant or not, if they do then I am in trouble as the gauge will narrow when the chairs relax back into position

Martin My original 00sf gauges from Polybear are fine for both code 75 bullhead and code 82 flatbottom. I have a set of DCC concepts 00sf gauges which states is for code 75 but for use with flatbottom rail, They fit fine on code 82 flatbottom, but not on code 75 bullhead rail. Code 82 fb measures in at about 0.78 mm and code 75 bh at 0.85 mm !! I was given the gauges by a well known contributor on here who uses bullhead rail, and it was not fitting his rail either

Gordon Good evening, are you going to build a small module for the challenge ? Trouble is it wont let me change my Hayfield password. Anyway just about to use the gauges you sent. Never realised that flatbotom rail had a narrower head size than bullhead rail. Learn new things every day, or as in my case re-learn what I learnt the previous day.

I should have been doing other things tonight, however as I have decided to go from a Samsung to an I phone (only as its easier to link up with the rest of the family who have I phones/pads etc) I have had to learn how to download 600+ photos and a few short videos, Somehow I have managed to do it, when I have not before been able to. Still nothing other than a common crossing in flatbottom code 82 rail. To be quite honest its been a pain, I made a Vee jig for flatbottom but it failed. In the end I did it by eye and the flat bottom was a real help I normally have 3 strips holding the wing rails to the Vee, as you can see I used a single piece of scrap etched fr. Thinking was that the flst bottoms would be touching other that at the knuckle, and once in place and painted nothing would show anyway Normally I would have this crossing fitted, but I will have a quick check at a couple of photos I took of a flat bottom turnout 2 weeks ago. Doubt if I can do much too different, but I need to work out a shopping list for C&L for my next project

The turnout is soldered up, tie-bars fitted and isolation cuts were done in both rails and sleepers. Initial trial runs are fine. Next job is a full testing and a few dropper wires fitted.

I have used my usual method of sticking the plan to the building board (Habit) then masking taped some tracing paper over it, I then put 2 narrow strips of double-sided tape either side of the rails leaving a gap where the tiebar goes, The tape I cut in 2 to 3 mm strips, as its so easy to peal the backing paper off once built, using the plan this way would be just as easy. Rather than make the common crossing on the plan you can see I have stuck a common crossing in one corner of the board, I have used Exactoscale 1,6 mm thick plastic sleeper strip for the sleepers, these were cut from spare sleeper strip left over from other builds. These should match up with the Peco Individulay sleepers I have. You can see I have used a straight edge to help me keep the sleepers in line

The 3 way has all the parts tacked in place and put aside for a bit. Having a break from the 3 way and cutting the Exactoscale sleepers (using spare full length ones) for the flatbottom turnout

Back to the standard workbench and I have the less desirable outlook than the past 2 weeks, but other than 3 0-16.5 wagons being built and a small amount done to my Wills City nothing much has happened. Anyway a 3 way is on the boards, sleepers cut and the crossing Vee's fitted. Now to start fitting the stock rails. One problem is my soldering iron tip is nearing its end, mainly due to my soldering action, but I have found that solder paint and low melt solder seems to take their toll.

Nick The sides do stick together very well, I had a go at making a couple of bogie coaches from various chopped up side parts combination. Just need to fit the bogies which I have some old K's whitemetal ones, need to sort out the underframes and roofs (which should be an easy job) Looking very good.

This thread has gone off on a very useful tangent and the advice from WeatheringMan and others is invaluable and deserves a topic of its own just to gain a wider audience it deserves Thank you all for the top class advice