Baseboard and track question

[jhock]

This is maybe not totally relevant to this section of the forum but I am building an American layout.

 

Baseboard, I have built my boards using birch plywood in a box type design, I am tempted to use the pink insulation foam on top of the boards so I can create scenery below the level of the track.

 

This is where the track part f the question comes in, if I use the foam would it be best to manually operate my points/turnouts? I can see if being quite a hassle to connect point motors through the foam.

 

Has any used a similar foam?

 

My layout will probably never go to an exhibition so manual point operation is not a huge issue, but I would like to be able to wire the frog up so the polarity is switched rather than rely on the point blade.

[JWB]

It depends on how thick the foam is, but if you buy a long enough (and thicker) activating wire, a Tortoise can move points at considerable depth. Some trial and error would be needed.

[trevorsmith3489]

Hi

 

You might want to have a look at my wordpress blog

 

http://kaleyyard.wordpress.com/

 

I have used pink foam for my working surface. I use Peco Code 83 trackwork and I use Peco turnout motors. My layout is DCC and I use Tam Valley Hex Juicers to switch frog polarity on live frog turnouts, other turnouts are insulfrog. The majority of my locos are 12 wheel pick-up so I do not experience stalling with insulfrog turnouts. My previous layout had a number of live frog turnouts with a microswitch attached to the bottom of the motor, but I found over time that the microswitch stiffened up and eventually the CDP did not have enough grunt to switch the turnouts.

 

I attach the turnout motors to the track before the track is laid, and then I use a craft knife to cut a "hole" in the foam to accept the turnout motor. The "hole" is just deep enough to accept the motor and a further small hole is made all the way through the foam for the wiring. I have never had a point motor fail on me in 20 years of modelling, so I have no worries about ballasting and scenic work having to be destroyed in the event of a failure.

 

Trevor

 

 

[dave1905]

Why not use the plywood box construction with risers? You have the room to build scenery below track level and can use whatever switch mechanisms you have been using. That's how I've built my last 3 or 4 layouts.

[jhock]

Been looking around the Internet and a lot of the US layouts seem to use insulated frog points, meaning that manual point operation is less complicated as you don't need to do anything with frog polarity, never used these before, but it seems to me that loco's, especially the likes of my Backmann 45 tonner is going to stall on something like that?

 

Certainly would make wiring up and point operation a lot more simple?

[long island jack]

I run a Bachmann 45tonner on my layout HELM, all the points are insulated frog points,never had a problem with stalling,as long as you make sure the track is clean

Ray

[Spamcanman]

This US point motor manufacturer shows how you can place their motor in the foam but alongside the point itself, so that it can be concealed easily but, should you need to get at it for any reason, you can do so without difficulty http://www.proto87.com/switch-machine-turnout-controls.html .

I am also making my first US On30 layout and will be controlling the points with wire-in-tube operated by passing the wire through the button on a dpdt slide switch.