The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Chris333]

My friend uses bunch of these on his N scale layout.  I assembled bunch of them for him. His are mounted in recessed panels in the fascia (to prevent snagging/bumping).

Most be recessed more than mine. They need about 1-5/8" to throw. You can see in my photo if I recessed much more I would hit the Bullfrog.


Dave unless you have a turnout right up against the edge you can just recess back about 1-3/4" under the layout and mount a 1x2 with holes in it.

[davefoxx]

My friend uses bunch of these on his N scale layout.  I assembled bunch of them for him. His are mounted in recessed panels in the fascia (to prevent snagging/bumping).

@peteski,

Any chance you can snag a picture to give me some inspiration?

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

Most be recessed more than mine. They need about 1-5/8" to throw. You can see in my photo if I recessed much more I would hit the Bullfrog.


Dave unless you have a turnout right up against the edge you can just recess back about 1-3/4" under the layout and mount a 1x2 with holes in it.

Chris,

I intend to keep all track at least three to four inches from the edge of the layout, to avoid concerns for rolling stock making a quick trip to the concrete floor, so, hopefully, I won't have the same problem as you have.

DFF

[milw12]

Nice work Dave! Cork and track is always a good stage of layout building, this will be fun to watch.

Those bullfrogs are pretty snazzy, I've got one mounted so far and am very happy. I was surprised at the throw distance too at first, like Chris said about 1-5/8".

Given I have a whopping 7/8" between the 1x2 frame and 1/8" fascia on my layout I'm not sure a recess would work in my case. It's something I've been pondering, perhaps a compound mechanical device, but that does sound like more work 

[davefoxx]

Aaaand, the first few pieces of track have been installed.  They're fully glued in place with yellow carpenter's glue.  Replacement ties have been installed at the rail joints.  I also bought a pair of wire cutters today and cut off the wire from the Bullfrog turnout control.  This box car tracks nicely through the turnout.



DFF

[svedblen]

Isn't this the most precious of moments during a layout build - rolling through the first turnout ...  ... and everything is possible ...

[davefoxx]

While I'm waiting for the next spot of lightweight spackling to dry before I can lay some more cork roadbed, I decided to experiment with the Sergent Couplers that I bought.  Success!  These things look fantastic and seem to operate great, although I've only had minimal testing time.  The jury's still out on whether I want to convert the entire fleet.  I need to just run trains and play with them to decide.  I'll probably convert a few more cars for testing.




DFF

[Chris333]

lol you don't play around when switching scales 

[chuck geiger]

Been watching VIRGINIA MIDLAND video's and ARE THESE those?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2XMLnPhP-x4/maxresdefault.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/25/97/6f/25976f5c49979e5a0635b9aecfbd3561.jpg

[ednadolski]

... I decided to experiment with the Sergent Couplers that I bought.  Success!  These things look fantastic and seem to operate great, although I've only had minimal testing time.

Are those the kit or factory-assembled version?   Do they stay lined or do you have to line them manually?
Ed

[davefoxx]

Are those the kit or factory-assembled version?

Ed

Kit.  But, don't even think about trying this without the assembly jig.

Like the prototype, you have to line them up manually.  This is where I want to play with the couplers to see if this becomes too fussy.  I don't mind the lack of a centering feature, but if it turns out that the couplers must be perfectly lined up with no room for error, that will become annoying.  We'll see.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Been watching VIRGINIA MIDLAND video's and ARE THESE those?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2XMLnPhP-x4/maxresdefault.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/25/97/6f/25976f5c49979e5a0635b9aecfbd3561.jpg

I couldn't tell from those links, but I googled "Virginia Midland."  As best as I can tell, those are Kadee (or similar) couplers, not Sergent Engineering Couplers.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Go with the Sergents!!! If you're going bigger, go all the way!

[narrowminded]

They DO look good, Dave.

[peteski]

@peteski,

Any chance you can snag a picture to give me some inspiration?

Thanks,
DFF

But, but, it is an N scale layout!    

My friend Rand's layout is part of a round-robin group I visit on Thursday nights, but we don't do it in the Summer. I could take photos when the sessions start back up in the Fall. But if I did end up visiting him before then (and if I remember), I'll take some photos. He also devised some home-brew bell-cranks to change the direction of the linkage going from the fascia to the bullfrog.

UPDATE: Rand has a blog and some photos posted in there. If you look at the photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/23552090@N03/sets/72157632751693773/ you can see the recesses panels with the bullfrog pulls.

Here are couple: