Weekend Update 4/20/25

[up1950s]

https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/10cv15t/office_of_safety_rail_car_by_the_fra_what_is_this/?rdt=41252

https://www.colossaltransport.com/rail-transportation.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2021/09/29/why-the-us-armys-rail-transport-system-is-a-wreck/

https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/new-railcar-designed-transport-spent-nuclear-fuel-cleared-operation

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/c_s/article/Switch-machine-suppliers-offer-a-range-of-new-options-to-help-railroads-reach-next-level-efficiencies--49692

https://thetracksidephotographer.com/2018/09/20/tower-architecture/

https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/yejpuu/why_do_trains_sometimes_do_this_switch_instead_of/?rdt=57219

https://www.wosu.org/news/2017-12-18/wrong-side-of-the-tracks-railroads-trap-first-responders-in-circleville

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/559031/signalman-jack-baboon-worked-railroad-south-africa

/>
H A P P Y   E A S T E R

[Scottl]

So this happened. 

I had a supply of components from Fast Tracks and acquired some code 70 rail.   

The only solder is to hold the frog parts together and the throw rod.  The entire turnout is solid and a truck moves smoothly through.  Still need to isolate the frog, add some wire jumpers to the points and probably add a few more spikes.  I originally thought I would add some PCB ties but it really is solid as is. 

I'd love to figure out a solution not using the PCB tie for the throw rod.  Maybe a 3D printed thingy?  I don't actually know what the prototype looks like!

[Maletrain]

There are some pictures here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_switch ,but they aren't very clear about the throw rod.  There are some pictures of just rods, here https://apexrailautomation.com/connecting-rods-layouts/ .

Basically, the actual throw rod is a round rod fastened to the point rails.  There is usually a similar rod between the point rains about one tie space towards the frog, that stabilizes the point spread, but is not actually involved in throwing the points.

I am thinking about making hand-laid turnouts, and am wondering how it would look to paint the actual PCB throw bar to look like ballast instead of a tie, with a piece of thin round or half-round  dark plastic cemented on top of the actual throw bar to look like the prototype throw bar.  The stabilizing bar would be easy, with the same bit of plastic just going from point rail to point rail above actual ballast.

[chuck geiger]

@wm3798 Lee will tell you a great story about this car. He sent a PM on it, and it's up to him to tell the backstory. It's
been patched and re-lettered for the LPRR. Thanks, Lee, for the story on the SP High Cube 40', this is indeed awesome.

[peteski]

There are some pictures here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_switch ,but they aren't very clear about the throw rod.  There are some pictures of just rods, here https://apexrailautomation.com/connecting-rods-layouts/ .

I just did this search and found several good photos of that area of the switch.

[Chris333]

Throw rods are usually the weak spot on a model railroad turnout. Some times I will even use a wider PC tie for it than the rest of the ties. You could maybe chamfer the edges to make it look thinner. Leave it wide where the points get soldered.

[garethashenden]

I am thinking about making hand-laid turnouts, and am wondering how it would look to paint the actual PCB throw bar to look like ballast instead of a tie, with a piece of thin round or half-round  dark plastic cemented on top of the actual throw bar to look like the prototype throw bar.  The stabilizing bar would be easy, with the same bit of plastic just going from point rail to point rail above actual ballast.

I hate using pcb for the tiebar, it has so many weaknesses as a system. 1) It looks terrible. 2) Flexing solder joints is just asking for trouble.
I have been working on servo mounts with an integrated tiebar. The servo has a gear mounted to it, the gear drives a rack on a bar. At the end of the bar I have two brass tubes mounted. These rise through the baseboard, 1" foam in my case. I then put a piece of brass wire in the tube and solder the wire to the point blade. This results in electrical isolation. I need to improve how I shape the wire, its a little chunky at the moment but I'm sure I can figure it out.

I've tweaked a few things since this picture was taken, but the basic idea is the same.


This is in the staging yard, but it shows how I've been attaching the wire to the point blades.

[chessie system fan]

I like the out of the box thinking, Gareth. 

[BCR 570]

For me, this was a week of cleaning track, vacuuming, cleaning wheels and running some test trains in advance of a return to operations after a long hiatus.  The recently serviced turnout mechanisms continue to perform well and my attention is now focused on getting the locomotives to run well again.

RS-10s 581 and 584 are seen departing Septimus with a work train after a test run over the Fort St. John Subdivision:




This was the first train to pass through the recently spruced up backdrop portal:




The ballast train was moved from Dawson Creek down to Chetwynd so I could clean the yard tracks at Dawson Creek:




RS-18 No. 613 was used to remove additional cars from the yard at Dawson Creek for track cleaning:




On Wednesday evening I hosted the monthly gathering of our North Shore Model Railroaders group, which is a subdivision of our 7th Division PNR-NMRA:




Attendees brought a range of models in O, HO and N Scale for a show and tell:




Tim

[DirtyD79]

I looked at that link because I wanted to know where somebody found some Bessemer & Lake Erie units still in their original paint in 2025 and it turns out the picture is from 2014. Booooooo!

[Peavine]

I bought myself a new piece of rolling stock…

[bbussey]

I hate using pcb for the tiebar, it has so many weaknesses as a system. 1) It looks terrible. 2) Flexing solder joints is just asking for trouble.
I have been working on servo mounts with an integrated tiebar. The servo has a gear mounted to it, the gear drives a rack on a bar. At the end of the bar I have two brass tubes mounted. These rise through the baseboard, 1" foam in my case. I then put a piece of brass wire in the tube and solder the wire to the point blade. This results in electrical isolation. I need to improve how I shape the wire, its a little chunky at the moment but I'm sure I can figure it out.

That's pretty cool.  I hinge my point rails also, but I use HOn3 PCB tie throwbars.  I hinge the point rails with .008" phosphor bronze wire drilled through the tie throwbar and soldered underneath with an electrical gap cut through.  On top I remove the copper clad layer and solder the wire to the rail webbing.  The point rails are hinged to the frog rails with Z rail connectors cut to the width of a tie and soldered to a PCB cross tie, and a short length of .008" wire soldered to the webbing of both rail sections keeps it snug.  The solid rails have given me trouble especially on #8 turnouts and larger, popping the throwbars and not having enough clearance for the flanges.  And since there's no slop in the hinge joint, it looks like solid rail unless you're looking closely for it.

I really like your automotive old-school rack and pinion interface with the servo, it sure looks much better and less temperamental than throw rods. I'll have to try that.

[Jim Costello]

Gareth,
 I agree with Bryan, a very cool idea. I have seen this rack & pinion drive available ex china for a month or so now and wondered how they could be used for this application. Like everyone, I have experienced some issues with rails desoldering off the tie bars and whilst I will not be making anymore for electronic control, I am looking on how best to improve the tie bar issue on upgrades and your idea makes it possible.
My thoughts would be to solder the rail web to a small brass rod or nail, flatten the head for a flat surface. Extra strength could be drilling a small hole through the rail web into the nail/rod and soldering a fine wire into it like Robeert 3985 does in his turnout making. Then put this assembly into your tube you have mounted on the rack & pinion.
I see this as a method to retrofit a damaged tie bar  in situ without having to solder a new tie bar in place. If the nail/rod is a tight but movable fit it may be possible to adjust the rail against the stock rail as with a PCB tie bar.  As I have reread this I think anyway to prevent the nail or rod from going down your tube but still allowing for adjustments would be a better solution

[Jim Costello]

Gareth,
What size tube are you using and is there any slop in the rack & pinion? I use Tam Valley Products for my servo control and I guess the control of the Quad-Pic/Octopus
would take care of this.

[garethashenden]

What I have been doing is taking some 0.5mm brass wire, bending the end 90°, and filing a flat. This goes under the stock rail and keeps the point blade from lifting. The bend goes outward. I think if I were to move the tube slightly further apart I could have them under the stock rails. Then the bend can go inwards and be less obtrusive. I have also seen people bend the wire so that it runs under the stock rail and then gets soldered to the inside web of the rail, but that would require thinner wire than I am using or more precise bending and filing. But these are experiments worth doing.

For the servo mount I started with this and made some changes. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6559980