US Style Track in S - Jameston & Leven River RR

JimG

Western Thunderer
I have been ploughing on with the track-making over the past two or three weeks - spiking on every tie (sleeper) is certainly not the quickest way to build track. :) I can understand why US layout builders only spiked every fifth tie.

I've now worked out my way of building the track. Rather than pre-spiking and threading the ties onto the rails, I've reverted to a more normal way of laying.

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I first lay down key ties at intervals and line them up using the rail fitted in the"slots" on the tieplates and lined up to the Templot plan. These are glued to the track plan with small dabs of white glue. The rail is lightly spiked in three or four places along its length so that it can be moved up to let ties with tieplates fitted slide under it.

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Then all the intermediate ties are filled in using the rail pressed into the tieplates' "slots" to align them and small dabs of white glue to hold them to the track plan.

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Then all the spikes are inserted to finish the length. That's easy to say, but the above length took an evening to spike. :) I'm getting better at spiking now but the first lengths of track were taking about two days to do a length of under a yard.

The other important matter to work out was the construction of self-guarding frogs for the turnouts. For those not familiar with these items, they are used in a lot of US rail yards instead of crossings with check rails. Here's a picture of one showing its main features.

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The checking is done by the raised edges of the casting bearing on the outside faces of the wheel tyres. It couldn't be used in the UK since our wheels widths vary.

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I've finally settled on building the frog using two layers of 1.6mm nickel silver. Here are the two layers with the top on the right and the base in the centre. The two parts will be sweated together to make the unit and the three pegs on the left will be fitted in the end holes to keep them in alignment. I've opted for the pegs since there will be further soldering operations on the frog when rails are fitted and I didn't want any possibility of the layers moving when heat was applied.

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The pegs have now been sweated in to the base using my Chinese no-clean solder paste which is still going strong and still usable. :)

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The top is now fitted on the pegs and sweated to the base using the solder paste...

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...and the pegs ends are filed flush. I've place a bit of rail to show how the closure rail end of the frog works.

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These are the remains of two or more weeks work on these frogs. I started off with the two layers sweated together before machining - at the top - but that didn't work too well and it was a bit wasteful of the nickel silver sheet. I then started cutting the two parts from the sheet, but ran into several problems with tool height which I have now about worked out - I think. :) One day I went through about forty pounds' worth of small cutters in one hour trying out one method. :(

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Here are the lengths of completed track laid out in position on the garden station baseboard. The part between the two weights is just the track plan, but the other parts constitute most of the plain track with ties on the layout. The rest of the track is either turnouts, or inset track. And it's not going out there - it's going along one wall of my bedroom. :)

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...and a bit of pipe dreaming. :) The loco is an S Helper Service SW-1, at the moment DC only but due to get a DCC sound chip in near future. The boxcars are also S Helper Service products.

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And back to the tracklaying, with the self-guarding frog placed roughly in position on the turnout timbering. The hole in front of the nose will be used to line it up with the track plan underneath.

Jim.
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
My self-guarding frogs are rather cruder than yours', Jim - but then so is most all of my track...!!! :oops:

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(more pics on the "Making U.S. tracks and switches" Thread here.)
I just cobbled mine together with Code 148 rails soldered on edge to the Code 100. Then again S Scale track standards are spot-on to Prototype IIRC so tolerances are finer than ordinary O, so your frogs should work well. :thumbs:

One thing that's difficult to get your head around at times, is how long these frogs are - since especially with "end-on" shots like you posted above, a long telephoto lens has likely been used, compressing the proportions and 'look' of the frog.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
I just cobbled mine together with Code 148 rails soldered on edge to the Code 100. Then again S Scale track standards are spot-on to Prototype IIRC so tolerances are finer than ordinary O, so your frogs should work well. :thumbs:

I was initially considering building them up myself with bits of rail and angle then I thought I would try milling them and once I had started that I had to keep going - stubborn critter. :) I would probably have been quicker building them up - certainly cheaper. :).

One thing that's difficult to get your head around at times, is how long these frogs are - since especially with "end-on" shots like you posted above, a long telephoto lens has likely been used, compressing the proportions and 'look' of the frog.

I worked mine out from pictures but I reckoned that the length is really set by where the rails can connect with the frog. I purposely made mine representational and not based on any particular make. :) One thing I haven't found out - did they ever do a self-guarding "K" frog on diamonds? I've got one diamond in the layout plan and wondered if the "K"s were such. I can't find any note of such a thing on digging through the Internet.

Jim.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I've yet to lay my track and I like the idea of building a self-guarding frog in P48 :eek:.

One thing I haven't found out - did they ever do a self-guarding "K" frog on diamonds? I've got one diamond in the layout plan and wondered if the "K"s were such. I can't find any note of such a thing on digging through the Internet.

I don't think I've come across self-guarding frogs on diamond crossings. Not yet anyway. So far all my internet searching reveals self-guarding frogs are generally used in freight yards where speeds do not exceed 30 mph. However, a reference was made a self-guarding frog being on a 'main line' but again, I don't think the speed exceeds 30 mph.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
did they ever do a self-guarding "K" frog on diamonds

I've done a bit o' t'internet searching and the nearest to this are OWLS (One Way Low Speed - not the silent night flying predators :)) crossings. The main line retains the standard flangeways but the lighter used line flangeway is raised to the same level as the mainline running rail and is crossed at a speed of 10 mph or less.

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JimG

Western Thunderer
I've done a bit o' t'internet searching and the nearest to this are OWLS (One Way Low Speed - not the silent night flying predators :)) crossings. The main line retains the standard flangeways but the lighter used line flangeway is raised to the same level as the mainline running rail and is crossed at a speed of 10 mph or less.

Dave,

I've seen that OWLS setup as well on my travels. :) Interesting stuff. Unfortunately I don't have a bit of main line envisaged to try it out on a model. You get the feeling that they might have copied toy train manufacturers who often used running on flanges in pointwork. :)

Jim.
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Those close-ups show why "hammer the diamonds" is more than just a saying!! :)
The noise of trains going over those 90% crossings is incredible!! :cool:
 

ScottW

Western Thunderer
Jim, as always..... Superb!

I'm sure we will all look forward to seeing you complete your track work.

Scott
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
I'm sure we will all look forward to seeing you complete your track work.

Scott,

This is supposed to be a quickie because I've got drawers full of RTR US stock acquired over the last few years. :)
It will be nice to get back to bullhead rail and chairs again soon. :)

Jim.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
The next job was to construct the turnout using the self-guarding frog but I had to work out how I was going to construct the rest of the turnout before I nailed the frog down, and that meant working out how I was going to make the switch. It's been a long while since I built trackwork using flat bottom rail - how about Peco spiked track about fifty-five years ago. :) Shaping the blade itself is much the same as with bullhead track, but the bases of the stock rails have to be worked on to match in with the switch rails. I started filing up some blades and stock tails which only served to remind me that I hate filing switch blades. :) So it was back to jig making again. :)

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This jig was based on previous experience with the one I built for the 1:32 scale track a few months ago, but was simplified as a result of that experience , and also to suit flat-bottomed rail. Two slots were milled on the alloy base to suit the base of the rail and the brass strip was set between the slots and machined to a size to bear on the sides of the rail head when the rail is in the slot. The brass strip also bears on the top of one side of the base of the rail so that the rail is held quite securely - as in this quick sketch

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The rail is fitted by sliding it in from the ends.

I've opted to use the front slot to do the switch blades with the central aperture allowing cutting on both sides of the rail to form the taper on the blade on both sides of the rail. The rear slot will be used for the milling of the stock rails.

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Cutting a switch blade with the cutter about half way down the rail. The bit of rail to the left of the cutting, at the sharp end of the blade, will be chopped off when the machining is completed - it's only there to provide support during cutting. The machine is programmed to leave a tip width of 0.05mm/.002" which gives support during cutting and also provides a stronger tip on the blade itself.

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...and the first pair of blades and stock rails, and they fit very well - much easier than filing. :) I'll use them to build the first turnout and if all is well, I'll batch produce all the bits to do the other seven switches required for the layout.

Jim.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
I don't like filing rail either, but I just used a bench grinder :oops: ...very carefully ;)

I hadn't thought of that - but maybe OK in O scale but not in the smaller scales. I suspect that my fingers might lose as much material as the rail. :)

I pushed on today and started assembling the turnout.

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The first thing to do was to solder the bits of rail to the self-guarding frog. I used my Chinese No-Clean paste again and the half oa a clothes peg in the background was used to wedge between the rails. The angle on the clothes peg was a nice match to the rails at 1 in 7. :)

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I used the RSU on each bit of rail and the job was done in seconds.

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At the other end of the frog, the rails were held in place with a hefty weight +(future tyres for a 1:32 scale caledonian Jumbo :) ) and the alloy hair clip and the RSU was used again...

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,,,to finish up with the complete crossing.

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The first job was to locate the crossing on the timbers and tie it in place with spikes through tieplates at the end of each rail, and spikes on the frog body. The spikes were not fully tightened down.

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The rest of the tieplates were then slid under the rails and glued in position. Then spike holes were drilled into the timbers and all the spikes were inserted and pushed fully home.

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Then the two stock rails were put in position and gauged from the crossing and held in place on a few tieplates with the spikes partly driven home. Then the remainder of the tieplates were slid into position under the rails and glued to the timbers. Then all the spike holes were drilled and the spikes inserted and all were fully driven home. In actual fact I drill and partially insert all the spikes down one side of a rail and that's the side furthest away from me. Then I turn the work round and drill and spike down the other side, this time driving the spikes fully down, then I turn the work again and drive the first spikes inserted fully down. I've got into this way of working since I find that I can insert spikes with about 90% success on the rail side farthest from me. When inserting spikes on the side nearest me, it's about 50 - 60% success rate. I haven't worked out why as yet - I might have done by the time I finish the track. :)

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...and the work so far this evening with the stock rails fitted. Tomorrow, I hope to get the switch rails and the closure rails fitted.

I pinched a truck from one of the box cars to try out the crossing and it works very well. On the prototype they are used in low speed areas but I suspect that this crossing would work well at quite high speeds on a model layout.

Another advantage of self-guarding crossings is that if I decide to change from NASG standards (North American S Gauge) to P:64 (exact scale standards) then I would only need to change the crossing nose. :)

Jim.
 
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Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Jordan said:

I don't like filing rail either, but I just used a bench grinder ...very carefully

I hadn't thought of that - but maybe OK in O scale but not in the smaller scales. I suspect that my fingers might lose as much material as the rail.
Well I might be resident at the Back of the Class, but I'm not so dumb as to hold the rail against the grinding wheel with my fingers!!! :eek: :oops: :D
.... and it was Code 100 rail, so just as applicable to the smaller scales ;)

Neat work there!! Must admit I soldered my switches up on a 'skeleton' of pcb ties.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
Neat work there!! Must admit I soldered my switches up on a 'skeleton' of pcb ties.

Jordan,

I've tried PCB ties before several times but I've never been happy at matching them to wooden sleepers in appearance and my track always looked like timber ties with occasional nice smooth ones. :)

It's taken a bit longer to get the switch end of the turnout done, principally because I've been trying out several ideas in the construction. The next thing I had to do was manufacture some tie plates - the equivalent of slide chairs on UK track.

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The tieplates were cut from styrene on the mill. The long ones on the right are gauge plates which were shown in the UP industrial track data that I had. These plates are fitted at the nose of the switches. At the top are metal switch plates, cut from some 15 thou nickel silver left overs from my "W" iron etching. The metal switch plates will be used to provide a solid anchor for the switch stock rails.

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The first switch stock rail fitted with two metal switch plates soldered to it and these plates are spiked to the ties. Also note, top right, that the two closure rails are also fitted - I forgot to take a picture of that. I suspect that that might have been because I had to rip up the first ones laid and these are the second go. The first ones laid had an alignment dogleg which I reckoned that I couldn't live with - I did ponder classing it as "Jordan Track". :)

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The styrene tie plates and gauge plates are then stuck down in position. Also note the third metal tie plate to the right. This will provide a firm anchor point for the end of the switch blade when soldered to the switch blade and the stock rail. It also provides the electrical link to the switch blade.

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Jumping on a bit, both switch blades have been fitted and lugs have been soldered to the tips of the blades to engage with the tiebar. The tiebar to be used is the PCB one on the left with two short brass pins soldered in it to engage with the lugs on the switch blades.

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The tiebar is slid under the rails with the pins lying underneath the lugs on the blades. The bit of PCB at the top will then be slid under the tiebar to lift the pins into location in the lugs. The PCB support strip is temporary since it could cause problems with shorting across the brass pins. I'll probably use a strip of plastic instead.

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...and the tiebar lifted into place with the brass pins engaged in the lugs and the turnout is now operational. I'm going down this road to provide a tiebar operation which can be operated above the baseboard top and which can be quite well disguised. The top of the tiebar will have a layer of ballast glued to it to render it almost invisible. Switch maintenance will be comparatively easy after the track has been fully sceniced since ballast can be cleared around the tiebar, the support pad underneath removed and the tiebar dropped and removed. I've gone down this road to try and avoid the problems of repairing an installed switch on a layout when the turnout operating unit is above the baseboard top. I'm trying to avoid installing any mechanics under the baseboard on this layout since the baseboards are quite shallow in depth.

Another thing to note in this picture is the dummy spikes in the plastic tieplates, The metal spikes didn't look to good when used and I opted to use 0.020" x 0.010" styrene strip instead, which was stick in the holes and glued, then trimmed off with diamond blade cutters which gives about the correct amount of projection.

And eagle eyed track experts will notice another error in construction - the upper switch blade doesn't sit on the first gauge plate. I cocked up laying the stock rail for some reason and I only noticed the fault when laying the switch blade in. I was keen to proceed with the tiebar method, so I went with the error. I might live with it, or I might have a major re-laying when I fire up the CNC mill to make some more switch blades and stock rails. :) Martin Wynne on the Templot forum will not forgive me. :)

Jim.
 

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Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Hi Jim

Will you be using the tiebar to operate switch stands?

This is one of five rescued from an On30 layout I built about 10 years ago using Precision Scale brass dummy switch stands. I modified them and used a simple linkage system, i.e. bent brass wire, to operate from the tiebar. Taking the easy route at that time I just remounted Peco long code 75 points onto PCB sleepers :eek:. The switch stands will be reconditioned for use on my proposed P48 layout.

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