Garden Railway Forum

Hi all

Was after some advice, i'm designing/building my new line and have decided on a dog bone shape. But i don't want double tracks on the the main straight as i don't think this looks right for narrow gauge. I am thinking of doing sprung/ automatic electric points. has anyone tried this before with any success? Any advice/knowledge would be great.

Oh its 16mm scale on 32mm track.

Cheers

Ben

If, using Peco sm 32 points at least, any train leaving the straight section onto the loop would take the route set by the point but on returning through the same point on the other leg would push the blades over. Without any springing or other kind of control the next train leaving the straight section onto the loop would take the route set by the last train in the other direction. If this is acceptable it would be much simpler than setting up springs or other means to return the point blades to a desired route.
My main concern with the idea of springs is that when pushing the blades over it is usually the first vehicle in a train that does the pushing and this is usually a heavy loco. If the blades are sprung, all axles on the train would need to be robust enough to resist being pushed aside by the action. A very delicate balance in any spring would have to ensure there is enough umph to move the blades but not so much that the lighter stock gets derailed.
I think some kind of additional point control would be much simpler than springs.
Maybe I'm just a little lazy?

Hi Ben,

I am using the same track as you and have sprung points so that they always are set in the same position every time. This is useful on a dog bone as the trains will always go the same way round.

If your line is raised you can simply put a bolt through the centre of the draw bar of the point and attach a spring. The other side of the spring is the screwed in place after you have tinkered with the amount of tension you require for the point to move back into place.

I have had this set up for a couple of years now outside with no issues even with rolling stock that is not weighted.

Or with no moving parts...

Tony W that is certainly an interesting design i may try that! Is there a design anywhere and how well does it work?

Tom Tom, i am using ground level screwed to bricks so ma have to move the spring to the side

Andy i am the lazy one i don't wont to get up from my beer chair to change the point lol

Cheers

Ben

Maple:101316 wrote:Tony W that is certainly an interesting design i may try that! Is there a design anywhere and how well does it work?

I don't know of a design as such ... you just have to get some rail and sleepers and make them! They work well.

TonyW:101285 wrote:Or with no moving parts...

That is very clever and almost too simple.

I take it leads in on the straight and out on the curve?
Thought I better check.

Maple:101331 wrote:I take it leads in on the straight and out on the curve?
Thought I better check.

Yes!

I got a return loop and what i did with my peco points in make the spring a bit weaker by bending it a bit..trains go 1 way come back and change the points ok even some of the wagons when pushed will change the points

Tony. I'm now building my second set of points to that desiginas the first one tested really well. A running Line soon. Dam me building most of my own pointwork