Rolling stock hitting spikes on handlaid turnouts

prr2bnsf_sd Jul 12, 2020

  1. prr2bnsf_sd

    prr2bnsf_sd TrainBoard Member

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    Thank you to everyone who chimed in. I just got my NMRA gauge in the mail yesterday, and realized that several turnouts were out-of-gauge as well. With this, I have decided to order more PCB ties (I don't own tin snips and getting them would make the total cost of the PCB sheets comparable to buying premade ties) and start soldering. The total cost of the ties is less than $0.80/turnout, which is math I should have done earlier...
     
    MK and Sumner like this.
  2. prr2bnsf_sd

    prr2bnsf_sd TrainBoard Member

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    I ended up making my first PCB-based turnout last night, and I am very happy with the feel of it and the tightness to gauge. It was also significantly faster than spiking, which makes building turnouts less of a chore too.

    How do people recommend painting the PCB ties? I built the turnout in-place on the layout, so I would have to desolder some rail joints to take it off to spray paint.
     
  3. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    I thought you'd like the PCB ties as far as making the whole turnout more stable.

    Maybe take a small cardboard box and cut it out about the size of the turnout. Take some cardboard and build a dam around the opening on the bottom side with the dam high enough to cover anything nearby keeping the bottom off anything nearby. Do enough masking around the turnout so that when you lower the box/dam it covers the rest of the area.

    [​IMG]

    Then spray paint with the camouflage paint that Fast Tracks recommend or what you like. That is what I used above,

    Sumner
     

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