Skipdup posted:I received the two curve pieces I needed over the weekend. Unfortunately, I am not able to resolve whatever is wrong with the two O48 turnouts. They won't switch, have sloppy gaps (causing derailments) and short when a train goes over them - I'm at a loss. Hopefully the other two O48 turnouts don't wind up being bad as well, since I've not been able to throughly test. Two replacement turnouts are (hopefully) in the mail.
Regarding the "gaps", one side is done how SCARM specified and the other is done how AnyRail specified. I originally used four 3/4" on both sides - but the right side was "gappy", I changed that side to 4.5" & 3/8. Frankly, I'm not sure now what I think. More than anything, I think there's probably far more slop in the track than either AR or SCARM represent.
Attached are some pictures of the layout, the "gap" sections, and my n-scale layout (the only one running a train so far).
Thanks,
Skip
Skip, thanks for keeping us updated. Very sorry to hear of the problems with your O48 turnouts. Sometimes I have to work to bend the points to make a better fit against the rails.
You might try the same lengths on both sides of the layout: (4.5" & 1-3/8" vs 4 x 1-3/4") That might reduce the gaps you are seeing some, which look pretty small based on the pictures.
I agree that there are manufacturing variances with FasTrack that will be problematic in trying to achieve a perfect fit. So far, I have suggested two solutions:
- Long-term: Lionel could produce a variable-length track section (as in the Rokuhan z-scale section). Perhaps between 1-1/2 - 2". Picture above.
- Custom-length sections could be created to close a gap, using 1/16" gray plastic shims between track joints and super-glue, requiring that the FasTrack plastic ball-and-socket and alignment whiskers be trimmed. Multiple shims over multiple section joints. I have not yet done this to confirm that the idea is practical. The idea is that we cannot compress FasTrack, and it is difficult to cut-down FasTrack into shorter lengths. So building-up slightly longer custom track sections of glued short sections may be the next best option.
