Atlas C55 #7 switches

[muktown128]

I think Peco code 40 with rails imbedded in the ties using US tie spacing that could handle low profile wheels would do well.

[dem34]

I think Peco code 40 with rails imbedded in the ties using US tie spacing that could handle low profile wheels would do well.

If I had money, thats up there with products I would want to manufacture. A good line of US Style Double Base flextrack and matching Turnouts in Code 55 and Code 40.

[mmagliaro]

I think we have the same view of Peco that we tend to have of Kato, meaning that we can't understand why both of them don't do more "North American" stuff.  But just look at their catalog of products.  Peco is overwhelmingly dedicated to European railways, and Kato to Japanese railways.

[Maletrain]

I think we have the same view of Peco that we tend to have of Kato, meaning that we can't understand why both of them don't do more "North American" stuff.  But just look at their catalog of products.  Peco is overwhelmingly dedicated to European railways, and Kato to Japanese railways.

Yes, I think that local market is part of it.  Another part is that the manufacturers themselves live in those areas, and probably have some bias towards building the things that they want to have, themselves.

What the U.S. needs is the concept of self-sufficiency.  If you want it, make it yourself.  Yeah, yeah, I know "We can't afford to make it here," is the response to that.  But, I really think it is more a matter of investors here being able to make more profits by building other things than train track.

To get what we want, I expect we are going to need somebody who wants it, too, and has the money/connections to make it happen here.  I don't think they will get rich doing it, but I do think that good looking, good running N scale track of North American prototype would sell really well here, and not be a financial loser.

[John]

What the U.S. needs is the concept of self-sufficiency.  If you want it, make it yourself.  Yeah, yeah, I know "We can't afford to make it here," is the response to that.  But, I really think it is more a matter of investors here being able to make more profits by building other things than train track.

I sat down yesterday with a fastracks template, a dremmel, some pc ties, soldering iron, solder, and some bits of code 55 track .. and built a number 10 in about 3-4 hours


watched this video for a refresher ..

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and another good one

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What the U.S. needs is the concept of self-sufficiency.  If you want it, make it yourself.  Yeah, yeah, I know "We can't afford to make it here," is the response to that.  But, I really think it is more a matter of investors here being able to make more profits by building other things than train track.

Truth. Whenever I hear people complain about "jobs going away" my first thought is "well, then DO something about it".

I think people have a mindset that "things happen to them" or "things happen for them" that they often forget that they need to make things happen themselves.

[mike_lawyer]

Received my jig and all the supplies from Fast Tracks yesterday, can't wait to get started.  I have been watching the instructional videos, so I feel like I have a basic idea as to how assembly should go. 

[mmagliaro]

Received my jig and all the supplies from Fast Tracks yesterday, can't wait to get started.  I have been watching the instructional videos, so I feel like I have a basic idea as to how assembly should go.

I found those videos to be very helpful, especially the first time, as the instructions didn't always mention some things to do or check.    Be extremely picky about the clearances and measurements at the guard rails and frog point.  The whole game is won or lost on how correctly those are set.

[Angus Shops]

I found those videos to be very helpful, especially the first time, as the instructions didn't always mention some things to do or check.    Be extremely picky about the clearances and measurements at the guard rails and frog point.  The whole game is won or lost on how correctly those are set.

Absolutely! I’ve built about 70 #7’s with my FT’s gear and have found that the tolerances in the frog and guard rails are critical. They are a lot ‘tighter’ than most commercial products but, when everything, including your loco wheel gauging, is right, they operate really well. However, I found that the spacing between the point and the stock rail often ended up being too tight and would catch the wheels of my Atlas GP7/9’s, even when I was sure they were properly gauged. Almost exclusively the Atlas engines for some reason; everything else seems to be fine. I’ve had to adjust several of these for consistent operation. I also really like the look of the hand laid switches as well - they look a lot more like proto track than any of the commercial products.

Incidentally, I purchased a few hand laid switches from a local modeller and he used code 40 rail for the guardrails on code 55 switches. They work perfectly and look even more realistic.

And don’t be discouraged if you can’t achieve the “switch in a hour” pace - only the true superheroes of the hobby can do that…

[prr7161]

I found those videos to be very helpful, especially the first time, as the instructions didn't always mention some things to do or check.    Be extremely picky about the clearances and measurements at the guard rails and frog point.  The whole game is won or lost on how correctly those are set.

FWIW I have found that the instructions mention that you can slide the frog point forward and back slightly in the fixture, and to favor the frog forward.  On their N scale fixtures (#5 and #9 thus far) I have found that the forward location makes the flangeways quite a bit tighter than they should be and that favoring the frog to the back opens the flangeways much better.  Also, the FastTracks wedge file is an excellent tool for final cleanup of the guard rails and frog to get them in spec.

I would also recommend using both the 'H' and 'L' soldered tie locations to help hold the shape of the diverging stock rail better, particularly on low-number turnouts, rather than one or the other as described in the instructions.  As another responder mentioned, you may also find that you need to adjust out the diverging stock rail near the points just slightly to get to NMRA spec.  Probably not too essential for most diesels and rolling stock, but for larger-drivered steam locomotives it will make a big difference due to the larger exposure of the flange as it turns.  Use the NMRA gauge here - if it works with the gauge everything should go through with no problem.

[mmagliaro]

Yes, good points... DEFINITELY use the NMRA gauge to check all the clearances.
And about the "H" and "L" ties, on my curved turnouts, I actually inserted 3 or 4 extra PCB ties, one each
in the two diverging tracks, and two on the incoming side.  I just felt like it needed them to really be sure
the curvature and shape of the whole thing was going to remain solid "forever" after it is installed.  Since
there are no pockets in the jig for these extra ties, if you want to add them, you'll just have to wing it and
solder them in after you remove the turnout from the jig, and you will need to be quick so you don't unsolder
any of the other joints, and you may not want to risk it.
In my case, I put their jig in my mill and cut extra slots in it for the extra ties so I
could solder them in while it was still in the jig.

[robert3985]

I solder extra ties for stability on all of my turnouts. 

I don't use Fast Tracks jigs, fixtures or tools, but use paper templates.  I think Fast Tracks does a great job in making your own turnouts much less intimidating, but, when I started doing it, Fast Tracks hadn't been thought of yet.

Since my layout is portable, I want my turnouts to be robust, and the extra ties do the trick.

When I was soldering everything up with my old Realistic 35W soldering iron, I never had a problem with other ties coming unsoldered...and I wasn't using any heatsinks.

Now that I do most of my soldering with my 250W resistance soldering station, I don't have any unsoldering problems either.

The trick is to use good soldering techniques, a hot enough iron with a clean, tinned tip, small diameter solder and get the heat to the joint quickly, then get off of it when the solder melts.

As I usually do, I highly recommend using silver bearing solder (96/4 Tin/Silver) because it's 6 times stronger than regular electrical solder...AND use Superior No. 30 Supersafe Soldering Flux.  I buy the gel, but after a few years, it turns into liquid...works just as good.  Get both from H&N Electronics here: https://www.hnflux.com/page35.html  They also have dispensers, tinning solution, solders and fluxes for other metals as well as other soldering and brazing supplies.

Also, make sure you clean the tops of your PCB ties before soldering.  I swipe mine with Bestine/Heptane, then rub the tops with a new, clean pencil eraser on a pencil to polish off any oxidation.

That pencil is also good for use as a solder barrier...marking the tie with a sharp pencil lead keeps solder from going places you don't want it to...like when soldering throwbars to your point rail toes.  Graphite also has the added quality of being a lubricant, so using it between the point rail toes filed outside surfaces and the adjacent stock rails keeps the solder away from this critical place, and also makes your points throw smoother.

If I'm going to use a PCB tie to solder electrical feeders to, I always gap the bottom of the tie also.  This prevents any phantom shorts that can happen and are nearly impossible to locate, unless you check for shorts each and every time you solder a wire to your rail or PCB tie, which is probably a good idea.

For appearances sake, don't put the gaps on your PCB ties running down the very center of every PCB tie.  Angle them, move them from side to side...or file them in with an oval jeweler's file barely taking off the copper cladding in a different place on every PCB tie.  Not hard to do, and won't bring attention to the fact that your PCB ties are different from your wooden or Styrene ties when you put them in, and your turnout is painted & weathered.

For me, making my own turnouts and laying track is one of my favorite aspects of model railroading...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Angus Shops]

Oh yes, extra ties. I add an extra tie one both side of the frog gap locations for extra stability, so there’s two ties on each side of the gap rather than one. One tie seems flimsy to me, particularly when installing the rail joiners and installing the switch, a process than can involve more force than I’m comfortable with sometimes. I also move the gap location one tie further from the frog on the ‘diverging’ side of the frog - I’m always concerned that  the rails are so close together at the FT suggested gap location that any small bit of conductive material finding it’s way into the space between the diverging rails may cause a short. This allows you to actually see the gap in copper cladding so you know sloppy soldering or filing debris has not bridged the gap. Just me maybe, but peace of mind.

I find the copper ties supplied by FT’s to be wasteful of material, and as their ties remain one of the larger cost items in the ‘per switch cost’, it’s a little annoying. The ‘useable’ length of tie is quite short and you end up with lots of left over short bits that are not useable. I’ve taken using my side cutters to cut through the ‘fret’ on both ends of the ties to produce a longer useable tie - maybe this is what you’re supposed to do, but I’m not sure? If you can find a source for longer ‘tie strips’ you can be a lot more efficient with material and reduce your cost per switch even more.

[John]

I find the copper ties supplied by FT’s to be wasteful of material, and as their ties remain one of the larger cost items in the ‘per switch cost’, it’s a little annoying. The ‘useable’ length of tie is quite short and you end up with lots of left over short bits that’s re not useable. I’ve taken using my side cutters to cut through the ‘fret’ on both ends of the ties to produce a longer useable tie - maybe this is what you’re supposed to do, but I’m not sure? If you can find a source for longer ‘tie strips’ you can be a lot more efficient with material and reduce your cost per switch even more.

The PC ties from Cloverhouse is what I use .. very little waste ..

https://cloverhouse.com/Cart/product_info.php?products_id=13785

[mike_lawyer]

Great suggestions from everyone, I really appreciate the input.  There does seem to be a fair amount of waste with the Fast Tracks copper ties once you cut them to length to fit the jig.  In the videos, they show bags of 100 ties, but I don't think they offer them anymore.  Do the Clover House ties fit the Fast Tracks jig?

Also, one of the things I have noticed is that in building the frog points, there is not much room in the jig between the frog point and the side of the jig.  The rails have to be cut fairly long to fit in the frog point shaping tool, so you end up with a fair length of rail overhanging the edge of the Fast Tracks jig.  This makes it more difficult to keep the rails exactly in place, tape it down, and then solder the rails together.  I might splurge for one of their frog-point jigs, as it would make it much easier to hold everything in place.

I have my NMRA gauge on-hand and ready to go, and will definitely use it to check clearance points at the frog and at the points.