Tie - closure rail clearance after painting on handbuilt turnouts

[Bill H]

Group:
I have just finished another bunch of code 40 turnouts using FastTracks jigs and did my usual Pliobond gluing of wooden ties. Once again, I am faced with how to;

a) How to keep the area of the throwbar that passes under the rails darkened without increasing friction against the rails?
b) How to keep the closure rails moving freely? - Some of the wooden ties seem to slightly swell after painting or staining, which causes some drag when the closure rails drag just a bit on the tops of the ties.
c) How to resolve the conundrum of should I paint/stain the ties before attaching to the rails or paint the entire unit as one piece?

Much appreciate others' insights and actual experiences.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[nkalanaga]

a:  Neolube?  Chemical blackeners?  The Neolube would also lubricate the sliding surface, which could be an advantage.

b:  Prestained ties?  Non-water based paints or stains?

c:  See b.  I'd precolor the ties, then weather the entire unit to tie everything together.  The point area of many turnouts is a greasy oily mess after it's been in service a while, so depending on your prototype, a shot of suitable dark color my be enough for the moving parts.

[rschaffter]

Sharpie?

[craigolio1]

Sand those spots a bit thinner prior to staining?

[Bill H]

Hi Group:
Thanks for the responses. Is there anyone who has actually solved this? I seem to remember a lot of folks mentioning that they had build their turnouts- what was the solution?

Kind regards,
Bill

[nkalanaga]

I built my own turnouts, but didn't use commercial jigs, so don't know how they may be different.  In my case, the wood ties were from Micro Engineering or Clover House, prestained, so painting them wasn't a factor.  The turnouts themselves were spiked to the wood ties, with ME small spikes, and then the PC ties were painted to match the wood ties.  The rails were painted later, along with the adjacent track.

The closure rails didn't give me any trouble, possibly because I used a lot of PC ties under them, to make sure everything stayed in gauge.  There just wasn't much wood for the moving rails to slide against. 

[mmagliaro]

While I did not make my own turnouts, I do have two  that were handmade by someone else using
Fast Tracks jigs, and I have had to repair them, so maybe my experiences will help you.

I have had both of the issues you speak of (the point rails dragging a little on the ties that sit under them,
and the paint wearing off the throwbar passing under the rails).

The repairs I had to do included replacing a number of the wooden ties because these turnouts had to be extracted
from a previous layout and reused, causing some damage and breakage to the wooden ties.  I also had to
replace and resolder throwbars.   I did use prestained ties, but noticed that they would drag and touch a little
under the point rails, so I sanded them lower, then stained them, then glued them in place.  Simple as that.  A little
sanding keeps them away from point rails.   

So I vote for prestaining them before you glue them in place.

If you are in that boat now and the turnouts are installed,
perhaps you can sneak a 1/4" wide or so strip of fine sandpaper under the point rails, with the abrasive side pointing down,
and pull the paper strip back and forth to sand the ties down a little under the rails.  Then a little stain with a brush should
cover up any sanding marks.

Ditto on the throwbar.  I filed it a wee bit thinner to keep it from rubbing on the rails above it, and then just painted it.
But I did this when I was repairing the throwbar, so I had it out of the turnout.  To do it in place, you might be able to slide
the throwbar one way, sand or file the bit that sticks out, and that should be the part that ends up going under the rail
when you throw it the other way, so hopefully, the paint won't wear off anymore.

Watch it with Neolube on the throwbar, if you decide to try that.   Remember that stuff is conductive and will short everything
out if you brush it across the throwbar.

Speaking of broken soldered throwbars, I did have an issue with recurring breakage of the solder joint between
the point rail and the throwbar.   Finally, I drilled a #80 hole right through the base of the point rail, diagonally, into
the throwbar underneath it.  Then I inserted a short bit of phosphor bronze wire in the hole, and then THEN resoldered,
being careful to solder to the rail, the wire, and the throwbar, but just leave a tiny nub of wire/solder at the base
of the rail so it wouldn't catch any flanges.
It has not broken since and that was more than a year ago, whereas before, it seemed like the joint broke every month,
and I do not "operate" my turnouts much.

A pin + solder always makes a far stronger joint than just solder.

[nkalanaga]

If you can't get the sandpaper under the rails, you might be able to use a chisel blade to carve out a bit of wood.  It will leave a dip in the tie, but with staining and some weathering it shouldn't be noticeable, and MIGHT work in cases where other methods don't.   You'll have to be very careful not to bend the rails, though, so I'd advise using this as a last resort.