Follow along with Eric White as he works on the MR&T to replace some of the layout’s old turnouts with new ones from Walthers!
HO scale Walthers Turnouts
By Sammi DiVito | June 18, 2021
| Last updated on July 21, 2021
The MR&T is having some track problems, and needs its turnouts changed.
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Hi Roger – those old Shinohara turnouts used brass contacts under the point rails near the tie bar to power the points. Over time, corrosion builds up and it’s impossible to clean the contacts without pushing them out of contact with the rails. In addition, the assembly is fairly delicate, so the parts can break. Replacement is the easier route.
Donald, a few years ago I replaced some other turnouts on the MR&T. You can find a Step by Step article here: https://www.trains.com/mrr/magazine/archive-access/model-railroader-september-2019/
Why has track prices gone up 30-50%??
As nice as those turnouts are, to me it appears the guard rails are at least one tie too far forward. The place to protect is before the point of the frog where the flangeways cross which should be about the middle of the guard rail. See Armstrong’s “The Railroad – What it is, What it Does,” Chapter 3, page 39, based on the AAR turnout diagram and look at the guard rail location.
Would like some more detail on why the old turnouts needed to be replaced. Deteriorated plastic ties? Out of gauge? Both points connected to the frog and relying on unreliable point-to-rail contact to power the frog? If the last, its easy to pull the points, remove the solid tiebar and replace the points with a gap between the point and closure rail. Use a PC tiebar, with a center notch to break continuity, and the points soldered to the tie. Metal contact between the PC tie and the bottom of the stock rail powers the point. A pair of spikes at the closure rail end of the points keeps them aligned with the closure rails.
Re the Walthers, a solid rail from frog to tiebar is not prototypical. (Rivet Counter alert!) Real points are hinged. Plus friction, dust and dirt under the rails over time can make the points harder to move. Does make power feeds easier, though.
Roger Thomas
I wish you would have done a how-to video on removing then fitting the new turnouts into the space. I don’t imagine the new turnouts were the exact length and shape of the old. Fitting rail joiners to existing glued track could be a problem.
this would have been a great how-to video rather than the high speed video shown.