I thought I'd maybe show you what I'm doing to get around a problem I have.
For a while now I have been having the odd derailment on my double crossover on my outdoor ground level layout.
The crossover is about 6 feet long and is a maintenance hog.
The track gets uneven because of weather and crud (sand /dirt /stones... you name it) gets between the switch points, frogs causing a wheel to lift and before you know it a car is off the rails. This occurs of course only when visitors are watching.
Anyway, I wanted something that I could lift out and remove over winter and also be able to easily clean periodically should the need arise. Having visited an outdoor club layout I noticed they mount their switches on a piece of plywood to stabilize the movement and I thought this was a good idea.
I bought a 4’x4’ ½ inch piece of plywood, which I cut into 2 2x4 sized strips and spliced them together end to end from the underside (glued and screwed) to make a single 2x8 length of platform. I then cut 1 foot off each end making the final size 2’x6’. The actual crossover is about 20 inches wide by 68 inches long.
The 2 1'x2' pieces leftover from each end will be used for two individual switches elsewhere on the RR. I had thought about using ¾ inch plywood but the weight would make the 2'x6' size just too heavy to lug around.
I then painted the 2' x 6' with some exterior black paint I had left over from my fence and I also painted the 2 1'x2''s and the results are pictured below. I may yet trim the wood up a bit more but I'll see how this works first.
All I have to do now is change the joiners to Split Jaw rail clamps and screw the track into the wood bases and fit into the layout ...blend them in with some ballast and hopefully I'll have reduced my maintence.
All in all it was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon in my garage
Gary
For a while now I have been having the odd derailment on my double crossover on my outdoor ground level layout.
The crossover is about 6 feet long and is a maintenance hog.
The track gets uneven because of weather and crud (sand /dirt /stones... you name it) gets between the switch points, frogs causing a wheel to lift and before you know it a car is off the rails. This occurs of course only when visitors are watching.
Anyway, I wanted something that I could lift out and remove over winter and also be able to easily clean periodically should the need arise. Having visited an outdoor club layout I noticed they mount their switches on a piece of plywood to stabilize the movement and I thought this was a good idea.
I bought a 4’x4’ ½ inch piece of plywood, which I cut into 2 2x4 sized strips and spliced them together end to end from the underside (glued and screwed) to make a single 2x8 length of platform. I then cut 1 foot off each end making the final size 2’x6’. The actual crossover is about 20 inches wide by 68 inches long.
The 2 1'x2' pieces leftover from each end will be used for two individual switches elsewhere on the RR. I had thought about using ¾ inch plywood but the weight would make the 2'x6' size just too heavy to lug around.
I then painted the 2' x 6' with some exterior black paint I had left over from my fence and I also painted the 2 1'x2''s and the results are pictured below. I may yet trim the wood up a bit more but I'll see how this works first.
All I have to do now is change the joiners to Split Jaw rail clamps and screw the track into the wood bases and fit into the layout ...blend them in with some ballast and hopefully I'll have reduced my maintence.
All in all it was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon in my garage
Gary