Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and replace an old turnout that has failed beyond repair. In this case, it was the lead #6 turnout in the throat of the north end of my Stacy St. yard in Seattle, an old Shinohara turnout from the mid 1980's. Arguably one of the most critical turnouts on the whole layout, and we had been having a variety of shorts and derailments there, because one of the point rails had separated from the hinged tie rod. We tried to repair it by re-soldering it, several times, but it would fail again after a few dozen cycles. All 6 of its rail joiners were soldered on, so I dreaded and procrastinated on this job for several years.
But then it hit me - if the turnout is bad, that means I could cut all six rails right inside the rail joiners, lift out the turnout, and then use pliers and a soldering iron to remove the rail joiners. Plus, it turned out, my accident, that I happened to have a stock shinohara #6 turnout that would have all the same dimensions and fit right back in where the old one was. So, on Friday, I took several deep breaths and did the surgery. Here's a picture with the turnout removed:
And the new one in place:
All that's left is glueing it down:
and final testing!
So far so good. Now on to painting and weathering...
No comments:
Post a Comment