Central Valley has introduced code 70 and code 83 kits for nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 turnouts as part of its CVT line of track components. The turnout tie strips are also sold separately. These kits offer several attractive features. The molded plastic tie strips are curvable, making custom installations, even curved crossovers, easy to build. Details which are hard or impossible to achieve on handlaid track, such as tie plates, are molded into the tie strips or the detail sprue. And the switchstand target can be made to pivot.
These kits are based on the American Railway Engineering Association (AREA) standards, but I follow the slightly different Advisory Mechanical Committee (AMC) standards, which were used by my prototype New York, Chicago & St. Louis (Nickel Plate).
Here the flexibility built into the CV turnout kit came to my rescue. For a no. 8 AREA turnout, the lead (distance between the point of the frog and the tip of the switch points) is 62 feet, but AMC standards call for 68-foot leads. I simply spliced in two more 10′-6″ ties from a second tie strip to make the lead longer on my sample.
The kit is made up of dark brown styrene castings for the self-gauging switch ties, detail parts, guardrails, and frog – the switch points are cast white brass. Rail isn’t included For the code 70 no. 8 turnout kit I assembled, I substituted an Alexander Models’ white-metal manganese-insert frog [see May 2003 MR, page 31] in place of the kit’s conventional frog. Assembly begins with gluing the tie strip to the roadbed and then attaching the frog and headblocks to support the switchstand. Next, glue down the stock rails and add the points and switch rod. Fit the closure rails between the points and the frog, insert rails that you file to a point into the frog, and finish detailing the completed turnout.
The key to this turnout’s construction is using Barge brand (Quabaug Corp. item no. DC 081) all-purpose cement to glue the rails to the ties. It’s sold in Ace Hardware stores and will bond a wide variety of materials, including most modeling materials.
Note: the fumes from the adhesive and thinners used in the process are dangerous, so I donned a two-stage respirator during the following steps.
I lightly coated the bottom of each rail with Barge cement thinned with lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl-ethyl-keytone) and let it dry for 15 minutes. Note that the stock rails don’t need notches for the cast points to nestle into. Then, I positioned the straight and curved stock rails in the tie plates, held them down one at a time with weighted track gauges, and brushed lacquer thinner or MEK along the base of each rail to reactivate the Barge cement. Central Valley has recently upgraded these kits with new point castings that have tabs where feeder wires can be soldered. The points are insulated from one another by the plastic switch rod, a highly desirable feature that allows close to scale spacing between point and stock rails without risking a short.
I wired my sample turnout by dropping feeders from each point, closure, and stock rail. I connected the frog wire to the internal contacts of a Tortoise switch motor.
Drill the necessary actuating wire hole before adding the switch-rod components! I mounted my switch machine so its actuating wire is hidden between the headblocks under the switchstand.
While Central Valley’s turnout components match the National Model Railroad Association standards, the finished turnout depends upon the quality of work done during installation.
The wide range of frog sizes, curvable tie strips, and choice of two rail sizes (I plan to also try using code 55 rail in a code 70 turnout), and ease of modification make these turnout kits important additions to our expanding track options.
Price: Nos. 5, 6, or 7 complete kit for code 70 or code 83 (rail not included), $11.95; nos. 8 or 9 kits, $12.95; nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 curvable turnout tie strips for code 70 or code 83 rail, $8.95 per pair
Manufacturer:
Central Valley
1203 Pike Lane
Oceano, CA 93445
www.cvmw.com
Description:
Curvable styrene switch kits with white-brass points for hand-laid code 70 or 83 turnouts (rail not included)
Sure wish they made these for code 100 track!
Sure wish they made these in N-Scale!