Hand Laid Turnout Tutorial
Page 10

Now we can slide the headblock ties under the rails. Leave a slight gap between the headblocks and the throwbar. Line up the headblocks with the rest of the ties on the one side.

Alot of the time the headblocks add some pressure to the points/throwbar, and it won't slide as smooth as it did without the headblocks in. If this happens, then pull the headblocks out and file them down a little so they are not as thick.

This will take care of that tightness with the points/throwbar, and everything should be smooth once again.

We're almost done! Just a few more things to do! =)

With the throwbar in and moving back and fourth smoothly, we'll need to isolate the closure rail points from the stock rails. I wire my turnouts different than what is considered "normal". I tried the normal way and had problems with the rails not staying smooth and in line when I cut gaps at the frog. So I came up with a different way. It's a little harder and needs to be more precise, but you don't have gaps in the closure rails at the frog. Here's what I do.

Since the top of the throwbar conducts current across it, it can not touch the point rails and stock rails at the same time, or you get a short. So we need to cut a gap in the throwbar to stop the current from connecting them. Since both closure rail points are connected electricly, we'll need to cut a gap between them and the stock rails.
Taking a sharp Xacto blade, I apply light pressure and do a few passes with the blade at an angle across the throwbar until I cut through the foil. This cut needs to be as close as possible to the closure rail point. Be sure to put the supports under the throwbar.

Again, apply light pressure. If you push too hard, you can snap the throwbar in half. Then you'll have to unsolder it and do a new one. Not good. It might take quite a few passes, but eventually it will get a groove cut in it.

Here is a close up of the cut.

Before the cut:

after the cut (yeah, it's really hard to see, but that is what we are going for)

I then take my test meter which has a conductivity setting and test that the cut is good.

You could also use track power to test with. If it shorts, then the cut is not all the way through.

Once one side is done, do the same thing with the other side. Test it to make sure it's gapped correctly.

With the gaps cut in the throwbar, we'll finish up spiking the stock rails and the we'll also put the headblocks in.

At this point, I like to put in my Tortoise switch machine. This will make it easier to get the headblocks just right.

I continue to spike both sides of the stock rails down till the closure rails prevent me from putting a spike on the inside. At that point, I spike just the outside of the stock rails all the way to the throwbar.

At the throwbar, we'll put the headblocks back in and spike them in. Leave a slight gap between them and the throwbar. We don't want the throwbar making contact with the headblocks and possibly binding up or causing resistance on it when moving back and fourth.

We can also spike in the last couple of ties on the other side of the throwbar.

And here is a far away shot showing where I spike to with the closure rails. Note there is no gap in them.

With the closure rails spiked down only so far from the frog, this leaves quite a bit of rail with no spikes. I have found over the years that the rails don't ever move much, and stay in gauge with no problems. This also puts less stress on the solder joints at the throwbar. With all the turnouts I've done and over the time they have been operating, I've only had one closure rail pop loose, and this was due to not enough solder holding it in place on the throwbar. It was an easy fix, and was back to operating in no time.

Now we'll install the guard rails. I do this last since I like to run cuts of cars and locos through the turnout to check them and this is easier to do when the throwbar is done.

Grab some rail and put it in place on the ties. Keep one end even with the wing rails and mark where to cut the other end. I come down about a tie length or so from where the closure rails meet at.

We'll make the guard rails just like we did the wing rails. Come in the width of a tie on each end and mark where to bend. Put a slight bend in them with the pliers and file the ends (like we did with the wing rails). Now take and put one in place against the stock rail spikes and hold it with one finger while running a truck through the frog point or using the NMRA gauge.

I prefer to use a truck. I put sideways pressure on the truck so the wheel butts up against the guard rail I'm holding and roll it through to see if the other wheel clears the frog point. If it hits it, then we'll need to move the guard rail over more. This is usually the case for me.

Since the guard rail is butted up against the stock rail's spikes, we'll need to file a little of the guard rail's web down so it can go closer to the stock rail. File enough down till the wheels roll through the frog without hitting the frog point. Then we can spike it in place.

Since we can only get spikes on one side of the guard rails, I put a little bit of glue on the guard rail to hold it in place. This helps out when cleaning the track, since I've had guard rails move on me while doing this. Just a few dabs along with the spikes will hold them in good.
Here is the completed guard rails.

and here is the full thing up to this point.

Continued on page 11 (the last page!)

All material on The Owens Valley Subdivision website is Copyright 2007-2009 by Michael Stoner. None of the material (including text and photographs) on this web site may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission.