Scratch Building #6 Turnouts (was Trout Creek/BK Enterprises Turnouts???

[bob turner]

My railroad is four loops of track in a 14x27 shed. Inner loop is handlaid brass .148, next, brass Atlas flex, then nickel silver hand laid, and outer 7" loop is handlaid steel (all handlaid ns and steel is ROW).

I used Atlas slip-on joiners, with care to stagger joints. One contact point for power has been enough for a decade and a half of intermittent running. My biggest single problem is keeping the railhead clean enough for smooth operation. We have temperature swings from about 40 to 90 F over a year, and my gaps move roughly 1/32" during extreme swings. Once in a while I have to go around and make sure the joiners do not disconnect due to unilateral movement.

This is just me - I am not an operator in any sense of the word. I just test stuff before it goes on display. I do have one switch - I used to have about eight, a couple of which were based on ROW castings.

[bob turner]

And cats? When they get old and sick they like to pee on stuff. Cat pee will eat a hole in brass, and remove factory paint.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

I hear ya Bob. My cats are only 7-8 years old so I hope i have a while before they start using the layout as their potty box.

The female doesn't seem to get hairballs (maybe cause I brush her every day) but the male hacks them up like Billy The Mountain hacking up a bolder!!!

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Well, it was a bust with Trout Creek/BKE, never got an email or phone call back, their loss.

BUT...then Jay Criswell stepped in. He had a everything I was looking for and within 3 days I received my order, coast-to-coast. Jay even sent me some freebies. One thing he sent was a #6 frog and it looks so good I think I'll change from #5 to #6. I drew my preliminary plan using the old Atlas "Right Track" software and from what I can tell their #5 turnout is 20" long. The printable template from HandLaidTrack/Fast Tracks for a #6 turnout measures a bit under 18" so I'm going with the #6, which should work even better.

As soon as I get one made then I'll order more parts so I can make a few more.

I stopped at Lowes this morning and picked up 2 rolls of Blue Hawk Anti-Fatigue Mat P/N #0771831. I looked online but it says Lowes doesn't carry it anymore The store I went to had at least 1 more roll and some on a roll like carpet that could be cut by the foot/yard.

The mat is 1/4" or so thick x 36"x60".

That gives me 12 pieces of 3" wide strips to use as roadbed, each 5 feet long, so 2 rolls will give me 120 feet of roadbed, not bad and last time I added it up this was cheaper than the cork roadbed we usually see. It's easy to cut with a box cutter type blade and can be easily beveled in a bandsaw using a fence.

I don't think it'll hold the track in place unless (like I did on my current layout) drill holes thru the plywood top and hold the track down using zip-ties. Using this rubber mat sure cuts down on the noise, until ballast is applied. But being I'm going 2-rail using ME flex track, I'll be using less ballast than I did with my current Gargraves/Ross track system, due to the thickness of the ties.

Once the ballast is in place the zip-ties can be removed.

I'm chomping to get this going, but I still have to clear out the rest of the upstairs. So far I've managed to take the stuff that was in 40 12"x12"x12" plastic boxes and put it all in 3 large storage boxes that can up 1/10 the space. That's what I was hoping for but now I have to find a place to put (or get rid of) the 40 boxes!!! A couple of friends of mine work for the local school systems so I think I'll see if they can't use them in the class rooms.

Almost forgot...BZ (Bravo Zulu, Navy term) to Jay C!!!

[Robert]

Hey good news Bob! It is a great feeling to be starting on a new adventure...build carefully...send pictures...

Robert

[big bad jim]

Almost forgot...BZ (Bravo Zulu, Navy term) to Jay C!!!

Ahhhh, the good ol' BZ....when I was at Fedex, they ostensibly offered up BZ's to reward employees for a job well done or above and beyond. The only problem was, they never seemed to hand them out, no matter what you did. You could impersonate Superman, save lives, quell riots, end world hunger, and still deliver all your freight on time. Sorry, not good enough. You got back to the building six minutes after your projected time today.

So we gave fake versions to each other. "Bravo Tango to you!!!" Better yet was the Pseudo Zulu, so named after Fedex sent letters after the holiday season giving BZ's to the families of employees, for being such good sports despite having not seen there spouse/parent from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas morning. The employees themselves? Eh, shrug.

[E7]

Sounds like the way the outfit I worked at gave performance ratings. They decided what they wanted you to have and then backed into the rating. As per usual the ass-kissers did well, and anyone who didn't buy into the BS was forever mired in mediocrity, no matter how good a job they did. The only amusing thing was that occasionally some who kissed the corporate behind would screw up and the hammer came down really hard.

Rich

[Jay Criswell]

Hey BobD,

First of all, thank you for the compliments. Truth is, being Army 11B40 (11Bravo) I wasn't familiar with Bravo-Zulu. Too many letters confuse us! Fact is, my dad was WWII Navy and wanted me to follow his footsteps. He died when I was in my mid teens and I didn't want to spend 4 years in the service. Funny part, I was paid for over 5 when I got out in '73. Anyway, we had codes for certain things but most are fairly vulgar and can't be shared with civilized folk.

Back to the real subject at hand, have fun building your turnouts and track. Please share your progress and efforts.

Jay

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Jay, I figure each branch of service has their own, different way of well, everything

Here's the flags the Navy uses:

bravo-zulu-flags.jpeg (34.42 KiB) Viewed 12605 times

Found out some bad news...the #6 frog will not work with the hi-rail wheels unless I file out the material between the rails of the frog.

Guess I'll be doing more soldering than I had planned!

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Got a question,

What are the names of the 2 types of turnouts:

#6 turnout 2.JPG (201.57 KiB) Viewed 12601 times

#6 turnout.jpg (26.3 KiB) Viewed 12601 times

The 1st photo has separate switch points (from the closure rails) with pivots, while in the 2nd photo they are one piece.

Is there a pivot point in the one-piece turnout, or do the rails simply bend?

I know there's a name for this (2nd) type, just can't think of it.

[Robert]

Not sure as to terminology on those, but yes the turnout that is pictured in 2nd photo has points and frog as one assy and those points will just flex when required. For a battery powered railroad your not going to be concerned with gaps so much as those of use with more conventional control systems.

Robert

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Thanks Robert.

I think I'll try making the non-pivot turnout first, if for nothing else than for practice!

[Tom Dempsey]

The non pivot turnout is superior in every way to the turnout with pivots on the closure rails. I would not waste any time (or grief) on hinged closure rails.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Thanks Tom!

I found the American Tie and Timber website today and they had a PDF on handlaying turnouts which looks like it came from the O Scale West 2012 meet:

http://www.americantieandtimber.com/resources/O+Scale+West+presentation+2012.pdf

They show the "non-pivot" turnouts I want to make plus a jig/holder for making the frog.

I mentioned above that I couldn't use the ROW #6 frog Jay sent me, but from reading from Mike Cougill's book "Masterclass Modeling Series No. 2 Detailing Track", I'm starting to wonder.

On pages 87-89 it says to cut thru the material between the frog rails with a Dremel disk, which to me would eliminate any interference I would have with the Hi-rail wheels.

Is this correct? i would much rather use a commercial casting than make them from scratch.

[Robert]

I'm not sure about hacking the casting since they have been made with prototype replication in mind. I have that book, and will read through those pages to see what there trying to do. But again if it requires hacking a scale casting like Jay sells, I'd question the value of doing so. Making your own frogs is not that difficult, and worth a try since your experimenting anyway.

Robert