Wheel Stops for Fastrack

If you want something permanent. I’ve been using ones from Scale City Design. They fit Gargraves well. Others I’ve tried seem to be more in line with 2 rail scale. I just use a little bit of JB Weld to hold them. They need just a little clean up with a file and then just need to be painted. I tried them on a piece of Fastrack. They fit nicely with just a little force needed to put them on. It’s possible you could get by without going.

3D Print  with holes to screw down

@Dave_C posted:

If you want something permanent. I’ve been using ones from Scale City Design. They fit Gargraves well. Others I’ve tried seem to be more in line with 2 rail scale. I just use a little bit of JB Weld to hold them. They need just a little clean up with a file and then just need to be painted. I tried them on a piece of Fastrack. They fit nicely with just a little force needed to put them on. It’s possible you could get by without going.

Those are nice Dave.  I see they also have ones with tension screws as well.  Know anything about those?

John

@AlanRail posted:

3D Print  with holes to screw down

Impressive as always Alan.

Are you selling them?

John

selling? how many do you want?

Alan, those are cool.  I'd be interested in maybe a dozen, depending on the price.  Feel free to contact me privately.

or this

@AlanRail posted:

selling? how many do you want?

A dozen as well, but I want to pay for them so please message me Alan.

John

or this

printing a test piece now;

sorry for the delay I tested positive last week. so I was a bit SLOWED!

Sorry to hear that Alan.  I hope you and your family are well now and that your symptoms were relatively mild.

John

I would interested in a dozen.

That's it! That is the justification of buying a 3D Printer that I have been looking for!

Thanks!

Hope you are feeling OK Alan.

Our prayers are with you, Alan.  Get well soon.

A 3- day bad cold and then nothing!

vaxed and boosted..... it works!

After a few more test prints I decided to allow all versions of trucks with various coupler lenghts and arrangements with

the thumbtack openers THAT I needed to split the wheel stops

Each is held in place with a recessed track screw.

Final design; email if interested...  making pairs of 5.

needs a slight adjustment to work with Gargraves , Ross track and Atlas track.

Let me know which track you are using

@Dave_C posted:

If you want something permanent. I’ve been using ones from Scale City Design. They fit Gargraves well. Others I’ve tried seem to be more in line with 2 rail scale. I just use a little bit of JB Weld to hold them. They need just a little clean up with a file and then just need to be painted. I tried them on a piece of Fastrack. They fit nicely with just a little force needed to put them on. It’s possible you could get by without going.

Dave,
Those are actually what are known as "Skates" and you have mounted them backwards. They are used in hump yards to catch the first car in the track and stop it. It does this by friction as the wheel rides up onto the skate and slides to a stop without damaging the wheel.
There are also some wheel stops made very similar to those, the difference being that they don't have the part where the wheel rides up on. In any case, they would be turned around to where the wheel fit the curved portion of the stop. Here is a photo of the wheel stop that I made out of plastic sheet.

@Craftech posted:

Those are nice Dave.  I see they also have ones with tension screws as well.  Know anything about those?

John

It turns out those are not tension screws at all.  They are merely decorations.  These just press on and they do NOT stay on FastTrack without falling off by merely touching them.  I also ordered these and they do not stay on FasTrack either.

Moreover both of these items are loaded with flashing that has to be carefully carved off and they would snap from opening them or closing them even slightly.  In fact one of the tabs that holds it on broke off trying to remove a piece of flashing projecting up between them that was larger than the tabs themselves.   Really poor.

John

John, sorry they didn’t work for you. I did mention they have to be glued on.

Big Jim. Thanks for the info..  They don’t come with instructions. I guess they assume the track gang knows what they are doing. I had a 50/50 shot and I did try them the other way and noticed the wheel riding up.  Maybe because of the 3 rail wheelsets. They just seemed to work better the way I put them. Even though I use Kadee’s I have them on sidings in case they don’t couple right away they won’t leave the track.

I just started using the ones from Scale City. I used ones from Tomar Industries for the majority of the layout. Not sure if the are still available. They are designed for 2 rail scale rail and a bit of filing had to be done to get them to fit.

Dave,

I don't plan on sending the two sets back to Scale City, so if you want them I'll send them to you.  The skate type and the other type.  As I said, one of the tabs broke off trying to remove the flashing, but if you are gluing them anyway, they will still work.

My email is in my profile.

John

Thanks for the offer John. I recently changed my yard up and needed a couple and figured I’d try these. Perhaps another Forum member can use them. I had used the ones from Tomar previously and they required a lot of filing to get them to fit over the Gargrave’s rails. The side tabs ended up being very thin and a few broke off. Once glued on with JB Weld they never moved.
The ones Alan showed look like the hot ticket for Fastrack.

Dave. Looks like a 3d maker could make a better unit.

Nicholas Smith used yellow wheel stoppers on all the O-scale trains on display (they still might). I know nothing about them, but they are out there. And they do the job. Mark

Could they have been the Gargraves yellow bumpers ?

Could they have been the Gargraves yellow bumpers ?

Richie C, The stoppers were directly attached to the outer rails. Here is an HO version. The ones I saw were similar and were shorter. Why not call Nicholas Smith at 610-358-22180 and ask them.  Mark

@AlanRail - Would be interested in a couple sets to use with my FasTrack. I have several trolleys and think they'd be very appropriate for that usage plus in one of my future yards.

Problem is I'm not sure which type. If I understand your post, you have several different types available?

Thanks.

John,

I am using these, there are G scale, actually LGB #6025. They fit perfectly over my Fastrack. I haven't painted any yet, but I think rattle can primers would be fine.

Tom

Those are nice Tom.  I actually ordered some from Alan (they screw down onto the roadbed).

What keeps those from moving if the wheels hit them?

John

John, they haven't moved when resting against car wheels. Some parts of my layout are not level and on the sidings where I have cars spotted I use these to really keep the car from rolling. Since my layout is a switching layout it just gives the switchman one more thing to do besides working couplers and switches.  Also the new LGB # is 10250.

Tom

@Tom Q Fan posted:

John, they haven't moved when resting against car wheels. Some parts of my layout are not level and on the sidings where I have cars spotted I use these to really keep the car from rolling. Since my layout is a switching layout it just gives the switchman one more thing to do besides working couplers and switches.  Also the new LGB # is 10250.

Tom

Do they fit firm enough so as not to move if a train wheel hits them at slow speed ?

I think Tom's design is a nice approach. I like the handle.

I might have added flat parts on either side of the rail opening with holes for screws to screw into the ties to make permanent.

But Tom's wheel stops look to be portable so that's a different approach.

This version of my wheel stops fits Atlas and Ross/Gargraves track. Note the small notches on other side of the bottom of the rail opening. The notches fit over the spiking and spike plates,

Richie, they sit tight on the track and if car is rolling on its own it will hold or stop it. At least that is what I have experienced.

Tom

Alan, Maybe you could make something similar? Your designs are really nice.

Tom

Tom

Didn't see the LGB on the side. so here is an fastrack version

Alan, That is perfect!

Tom

The LGB VERSION has an anchor Nub. I left that out because my engineering background says that that nub is not a sufficient anchorage.

Instead, I will add a connected side panel with a track screw hole.

That will provide much better anchorage to the track.

Also I will make this universal for Fastrack and Atlas, Ross and Gargraves track.

Alan, yours will be perfect for any rail we have. How will we be able to order them?

Tom

@AlanRail - Received my 5 sets for FasTrack. Thank you!

Noticed there are 2 different types. Confused which way they are supposed to be used. Does the rough edge go inward (towards where the wheels would be) or does the smooth side go toward where the wheels would touch them?

I also noticed in either direction the holes do not match the holes in the FasTrack. Is that correct or did I receive the wrong wheel stops?

Thanks.

@paulp575 posted:

@AlanRail - Received my 5 sets for FasTrack. Thank you!

Noticed there are 2 different types. Confused which way they are supposed to be used. Does the rough edge go inward (towards where the wheels would be) or does the smooth side go toward where the wheels would touch them?

I also noticed in either direction the holes do not match the holes in the FasTrack. Is that correct or did I receive the wrong wheel stops?

Thanks.

You need #4 Wood screws to attach to FT base.  To determine L&R, Thicker half goes to the inside to catch the largest part of the wheels.

They are fantastic.

Thanks Alan,

John

@Craftech posted:

You need #4 Wood screws to attach to FT base.  To determine L&R, Thicker half goes to the inside to catch the largest part of the wheels.

They are fantastic.

Thanks Alan,

John

2  questions:

1. The screws go through the wheel stop AND the FT?

2. Round head or flat head #4 screws (I don't know off the top of my head the length of #4 wood screws).

Thanks

@paulp575 posted:

2  questions:

1. The screws go through the wheel stop AND the FT?

2. Round head or flat head #4 screws (I don't know off the top of my head the length of #4 wood screws).

Thanks

The screws go through the pre-drilled holes.  The head sits flush inside the hole.  The wood screw threads cut threads into the plastic roadbed in the same manner that self-tapping sheet metal screws do.  You need around 1" to 1 1/4" long #4 wood screws.  I couldn't find #4 sheet metal screws that long so I opted for the wood screws.  Flat head.

If I wanted the stops to be flush with the end of a 10" section (just before a FT bumper section) you would have to cut down the height of the fake ties flush with the roadbed to make the wheel stops sit level because they only rest on a single tie when they are all the way at the end of a section.

If that is not your requirement you can span two ties so it sits level.

John

correct.  the screws I designed this for are the Gargrave Track screws.

The length is the height of the Fastrack plus the wheel stop and the depth of how much you want to go into the support below. These screws come in various lengths from Trainworld or other hobby stores.