Now that the glue is dry, carefully peel the tape off the ties. I pull the tape at about a 45 degree angle to the ties to lessen the chance of pulling a tie loose from the glue. Also pull up the masking tape cover at the throwbar. Run your fingers across the top of the ties to make sure they all are secure. If you have one come loose, dab some glue on it and push it back down. Next, take some sand paper on a block and lightly rub it back and fourth across the tops of the ties. This will get any irregular areas on the wood. It doesn't take much, but if you run your fingers back across the tops of the ties, you should be able to feel the difference the sanding makes. Depending on what you are going to use for turnout control, you might be able to skip this next step. I use Tortoise switch machines, so I need to drill a hole for the actuating wire to pass through. The hole size is 3/16". This is centered in the throwbar area. Once the hole is drilled, smooth out the area with some sandpaper or a file. This has to be smooth since the throwbar will be sliding back and fourth here. Since this area that I'm laying this turnout at doesn't have any track coming to it yet, I temporarily spiked down some flex track on each side and I'll put in the final track at a later time. If you already have your track put down, then that's OK too. It's not a big deal. Just make sure the track is secured and won't move. Now we can start to lay rail! We'll start with the Stock rail for the straight route. Take a piece of rail and install one end into the adjoining track. It's not a big deal which side of the turnout you start with. Now lay the rail down on the ties and run it right next to the track on the opposite side. I started on the right side of the picture. With the turnout rail against the flex track rail, I mark where to cut with the Xacto blade. You don't need to cut a groove into the rail, but make a bold enough mark so you can see it to cut it. -Mike
With the rail now cut out, check along it and make sure it's as straight and even as you can make it. You can run the rail through your fingers, applying a little pressure to get rid of any kinks in the rail. Once the rail is nice and straight, put it back in place on top of the ties, secured to the track at both ends. Now we are going to recess the Stock rail and give the Points a place to "hide". Even though the prototype doesn't have this, I like to do this to help avoid any potential derailments. Taking a 16' tie, slide it under the rail and put it in the rear Headblock position (see pic) Now take that Xacto blade and mark the rail between that 16' tie and the 4th 8'6" tie. Again, not a deep groove, just enough to see the mark. Now we are going to file the inside of the rail down. Take the rail back out and lay it down on a hard surface. Find your mark on the rail, and start filing down the rail, going all the way through the web and part of the head of the rail. You will want to file the rail down till you hit the inside of the "T". This area only needs to be about a 1/16" wide. As you file, you will see the top rail head and bottom rail web change color, but the inside will still look the same. As you file more rail off, you'll start to hit that middle area. Once you do, take and feather out the rail for about 16 tie lengths. (this is very hard to explain! Pics work better) Here is another view showing how the filing of the rail angles out. This is looking at the bottom of the rail. Once the rail has been filed down, there will be small burrs left on it. I have found that taking the Xacto blade and running it back and fourth all around the filed area gets rid of these burrs and smooths the rail out. Once you can take your fingers and run them back and fourth along the rail without feeling any sharp areas, then you are done and ready to put the rail back into position on the ties. You might also have to rebend the rail back straight in this area, since filing the rail makes it bend some. Again, run it through your fingers while applying some pressure to straighten it back out. Next up is spiking... -Mike
Truly inspiring showcase Mike! These past few months have brought out an incredible amount of talent on the boards here. Modeling the ways I see on this forum just shows you we're not just being silly boys playing with trains. If the world knew just how much skill we put into our layouts, I'd bet some of the names here would be right up there with Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Picasso. Keep up the amazing work guys!
Yes. All the track is handlaid code 40 including the turnouts. They have been doing it for years. I do think they solder to the ties. I don't know anything else about how they do it. It would be an interesting thread to have some of their members post how their club organizes that aspect of the layout.
Mike, sorry for the double post on where to buy, we posted at about the same time last night. That's great to know that I can get most everything in canada, saves on shipping times. Great work and thanks Ben
Yep, I got a pretty good tour a few years back. I went on a work night and I was very patient and it was early so one of the members gave me a really good tour of both the la mesa layout as well as the SD&E layout [two layouts, it all merges in my mind given the size of it!!!] It's really quite an engineering marvel...jumble underneath!! MOST of the track IS handlad, as you are correct! I stay safe by saying all switches are handlaid, but just watch someone show up a picture of a switch on the layout that ISN'! HA! They are some really nice switches though. I watched a guy put one together a bit - he was very efficient!!
Benny, you are talking about the two HO layouts and flash is talking about the N-Scale layout. We SDSONS have been hand laying code 40 since about 1983 on the layout in Balboa Park. We did use code 55 flex in the staging yards and hand layed the turnouts. Here is a link to our methods for track work. The San Diego Society of N Scale Here is the club web site, The San Diego Society of N Scale Check out the new videos, they were shot just last weekend.
With the rail back in place, lined as straight as you can get it, and connected to the adjoining track, we'll start spiking. I found the best place to start at is at the throwbar/points area. Pick any of the 4 ties that come before the throwbar to start with. I usually start with the one right next to the throwbar. Using the pliers, grab a spike and hold from 50%to 75% of the spike in the teeth. This makes it easier to start the spike in the ties, and you won't have that wobbly feeling if you are holding most of the spike. Also, keep a little bit of the head of the spike sticking out of the pliers. This is just for visual reference as you push the spike in. Take the spike and center it in the tie right next to the rail. Touching the rail is OK, but I prefer to have it a hairs width away from the rail. Also, you will need to keep the spike at an angle. With 90 degrees being straight up and down, put the spike around a 60 to 70 degree angle. 45 degrees will be too much. DO NOT drive the spike in straight up and down. The head of the spike will hit the head of the rail and then you will bend the rail out of place. Not good. Here is a pic of where the spike should sit and about the angle it should go. The best way I have found to push the spike in is with your wrist and arm sitting on the layout running parallel to the turnout. This gives you really good control. Also, take your other hand's fingers and prop them up behind the spike/pliers to help stabilize everything. You can then rest your hand thats holding the pliers on your other hand's fingers. (confused yet?) Once you feel comfortable holding the pliers and the spike is sitting in place, go and push it in. As you push down, the pliers should clear the head of the rail and come down and touch the web of the rail. Let go of the spike and grab it a little higher up. Push down again. Once you get the head of the spike to just below the top of the rail, let go of the spike and close the pliers up. Using the closed mouth of the pliers and still supporting them with your other hand, push the spike all the way down until it hits the web of the rail. And thats it. It's in. Be careful not to move the rail until the spike is in on the other side, but you will find it is pretty firm. A side note.... One thing I have found is that not all the ties are created equal. Some are pretty soft and the spikes just about fall through them. Some are pretty hard and it takes quite a bit of downward pressure on the pliers to get the spike started in the tie. Don't be surprised if you bend some spikes. There have been times that I've bent about 4 or 5 spikes before I break into the tie. This is why you put most of the spike into the teeth of the pliers. If you don't put enough spike into them, the pliers can move on you and you'll come down on the rail and tie and mash things up pretty good. It's always better to push a little of the spike in, readjust the pliers, push a little more, readjust, then finish the spike than to do it all in one motion. This will happen to you more than a few times, so it's good to practice on some scrap ties and rail to get a feel for spiking before you start on a permanent turnout. -Mike
Mike, Maybe it missed this, but I am so intrigued! I have to ask. Do you think a wood tie, cork, foam base would work, or will the spikes just not hold? I know the foam won't hold much. I guess this is the reason homasote roadbed is still poplar. GREAT work, and nice pictures.
Bigford, Thanks and it is easy! Hutch, I did a little experimenting with some cork the other day. I glued some N scale sized cork down to some wood and glued some ties on top. I then spiked some rail in. It holds pretty good, not like the homasote, but good enough that when I applied pressure to the rails, then didn't move. So I would say Yes, it would work with cork Besides, once you glue down your ballast, the glue will help hold the spikes from coming loose. As to your foam base, as long as it's strong enough to hold up to the pressure of pushing down on it, then I see no problems there. The spikes are not long enough to go through the ties, cork and into the foam. Let me run and take a pic of the cork.... -Mike
Thanks for the picture! You know once, I bought some homasote roadbed from this place : http://www.homabed.com/ and wondered why anyone would want to use it in n scale. Now i know.
Hutch, thanks for the link! I totally forgot about that place! I had heard about them but never been to their website. I'll go back and edit my original post to include that company in the places to purchase homasote. -Mike
Now that you have the first spike put in, jump to the other side and drive the spike in for that side of the rail following the steps in the previous post. Once you have both spikes driven in, you can take the pliers, open them up and put each side of the pliers on top of each spike and give it one last push. After I get in the initial 2 spikes, I usually jump back a tie or two and put in 2 more spikes. This will ensure that the throwbar area is secure and won't move when you start spiking the other end of the rail. You can also see the notch in the stock rail for the points to nestle back in to. Speaking of the other end of the rail, we can now go down there and work our way back. I like to come in 2 to 3 ties from the end and start spiking from there. Sight down the rail to make sure it's still straight as possible, and then put in a spike on each side of the rail. Now we come to a personal preference point.... On my turnouts in the non critical areas, I put in spikes at every 4 tie intervals. Put in a spike, skip 3 ties, put in a spike. I have found this to look the best, but you can do what looks good to you. If you only want to skip 2 ties, then OK. It's up to you. After putting in those 2 spikes at the other end, I count 3 ties, and make a mark in the homasote right next to the end of the ties that get spikes. I keep going till I get to about the middle of the turnout, and drive in 2 more spikes, one on each side. This will help to keep the rail as straight as possible as you finish spiking. If you start at the end and keep spiking back to the throwbar, you can make the rail get out of position, and then it's not straight any more. Not good. So with a turnout this size, I put in a few spikes here and there and will finish putting in the rest once the turnout is almost finished. Here is a pic of a few areas spiked. This will hold up enough while we work on the rest of the turnout. With this done, your rail should be nice and straight and in line with the track on either side of the turnout. One thing that I can't stress enough is to ALWAYS keep eying down the rail to keep it as straight as you can. It seems like every time I put a spike in, I look down the rail to make sure it is still nice and straight. Maybe I'm a little anal about this, I don't know. =) This is a pic taken in a mirror and flipped back to normal in a photo editing program since I can't get the camera back far enough to take this normally. Here is where we are at this point. Next up we'll start on the diverging route's stock rail. -Mke
Every one of the "visible to the public" turnouts on the N scale layout at the GSMRM is handlaid, ME code 55. There's also a couple handlaid code 70 turnouts in hidden areas. Our two staging yards have both been redone, with Peco code 55, in the last couple years since I joined the club. Mike, looking forward to the next installment!
I got to spend a goot amount of time looking at that layout as well on the same trip -three FANTASTIC layouts!!!
Nice job on the turnouts! for those of you interested, the P87 group has various sizes of spikes, one could get closer to scale size spikes even for N scale. they even have tie plates and turnout hardware (if your so inclined) note the spikes are extremely small, so your standard spiking pliers probably won't cut the mustard. Rob
