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…..--- Sawmill Curved Turnouts -- Pt. 3 & Build Tips ---======================================

Three more curved turnouts were needed for the sawmill complex tracks & main. Below is mainly more turnout build techniques that I use. These have changed over the years and will probably continue to change. The more you build turnouts the more you find ways to improve on them.

Above is one way to use a Fast Tracks tool to make the frog points for frog point numbers other than what it was designed for. The correct one would be a little faster but filing like above only adds a couple minutes to how long it would take to file the frog points for the turnout the PointForm tool is designed for.

Using a soldering jig is also beneficial but not a necessity.

Getting the frog rails where they should be on the template is important as the rest of the turnout is built off of them. Use the template for the stock and closure rails initial positioning but using a NMRA gauge to position them by the frog is more important than where you might place them using the template only as a guide.

Above you can see the stock rails are filed a little deeper than what you might be able to do using the StockAid filing jig alone. You might also find you need to file further towards the frog for the outside stock rail of a curved turnout. The closure (points) rail lays on the stock rail for a greater distance than for a straight turnout.

I've used different things (PCB ties) to space the closure rail points out away from the stock rails to solder them to the throwbar. They worked but now found the easiest is to take pieces of rail and turn them upside down..... slide them towards the points for the gap you want...solder the points to the throwbar.....remove the pieces of rail.

I use Superior #30 liquid flux in a bottle with the metal tip squeezed shut. Put a small drop where the point lays on the throwbar. Then have my 60 watt iron as hot as it goes.....touch the tip to the joint in the flux.... melt solder into the joint and get off as soon as I see it flow and attach to both. Usually only a second or so. You don't want solder to flow to the other side of the point making it hard for the throwbar to slide under the stock rail. If any ends up on that side file it off with a thin file.

The #10 curved turnouts above are the same with one being a 'right hand' and the other a 'left hand'. They provide a cross over between the inner and outer main tracks.

The #10 lefthand above with a 14" inner radius connects the inner main track to the tracks by the sawmill.

The 3 new turnouts provide a way to enter or exit the sawmill tracks to either the inner or outer main tracks.

I like to test all my crossings or turnouts before adding the wood ties or installing them on the layout. At this point it is still easy to heat solder to melting and move rails just a bit if needed. I made the test setup above to sit on top of my test layout when needed The tracks used with it can connect to either a DC or DCC output from the DCC-EX command station or a Tech II DC throttle with power jacks.

The metal clamps can be moved or rotated to hold the crossing or turnout in place while powered tracks are connected using joiners soldered only to the track pieces. You can have a turnout or crossing in/on the tester in a minute or so.

More info and images on the turnout tester ( HERE ).

I usually test with all 3 of the locos shown above. Usually the 6 axle E9 is the one that tests the functionality of the turnout the most but the U50 with the inside sets of axles also finds turnouts that need more work.

I moved one of the guard rails and a closure rail by the frog on one a bit. Another had a short in one small section of the turnout that I miss when I checked it with the multimeter on the bench. Both were easy fixes at this point.

To be continued and a link to this whole build ( HERE ).

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