Hand-Built HOn30 Turnout

My order from Fast Tracks finally came in today (from air mail canada). I had ordered some PCB cross ties for laying my own track. And of course since my order from Nscalesupply.com came in last week, it was time to try it all out (after a quick trip to the hardware store for some acid paste flux).

And the result is....

TADA!

Three and a half hours, 1 piece of rail, a small bit of solder, and a lot of filing! It's my first hand-laid track ever (and it happens to be a turnout at that).

It's really bad. The main track flangeway guard rail isn't fully laid flat. The switch points aren't quite the right shape to make a nice contact. And the frog point is kinda wonky. BUT it is in gauge, and the deviating track's guard rails are pretty close to NMRA spec.

Well, whatever the case I'm pretty happy just to have had the experience and to be able to say I've at least built one. I'm hoping my next turnout will be a lot better (and functional).

I'm actually laying these more or less by hand using a paper template. I use blue painters tape to temporarily hold things in place. If it looks like it would be easier using this method, it's not. In fact, the tape isn't quite as good as say if I had a third hand.

Even though the quality is pretty bad (cars will derail going hitting the guard rail on the main track) I can see some progression in my ability to be more precise. Here's a timeline of some of the pieces made. Hopefully it shows a progression in quality...

Maybe next post I'll be showing you all a completed, working, and well-made turnout.

In case you were wondering exactly how big is this turnout....

One last thing: If you're wondering about the globs of solder, they're relatively flat and won't show up when painted. As seen here is not the final product. A turnout would have the remaining crossties added and be painted after installation.