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Fitting Ross Switches Ross Custom Switches are all we use on the NPF Railway, having retired the last of our Lionel switches a few years ago. For an upcoming rework, we'll need to tighten-up several switches at the front of the layout. This will enable placement of the Liftout Bridge & Pond, and connection of a passing siding. Insanely Tight Spacing: 3 1/4" Center-to-Center Never quick to settle for "Normal", we will insted explore our usual application of Insanely Tight Spacing as a general rule for layout construction. We're looking for 3 1/4" center-to-center, which is tighter than most responsible modelers would even make their yards. But don't worry, the same methods can be applied to any switch fitting.
Problem Area You can see here, the mainline is spaced in a typical fashion for an opposing pair of Ross 11-degree switches. At about 4 3/8" center-to-center, a double-track bridge needs 7 3/4" to 8" inside clearance on most model railroads. We plan to put in a bridge with a 6 5/8" inside clearance, so we'll be fitting this pair of switches to make a 3 1/4" spacing center-to-center.
Ten Ties between Frogs Ten ties between frogs on an opposing pair of Ross 11-degree switches. About 4 3/8" center-to-center, plus the 10 ties push the overall length of the pair to about 30". We'd like to do 3 1/4" center-to-center, with an overall length of 25" or so, preferably without trimming the points-ends of the switches.
Lifting Track & Switches: The Wrong Tools For the Job I keep thinking that The Right Tool For The Job is invariably either the tool I have in my hand, or one that is within reach. Shown above is a butterknife pilfered from the kitchen drawer and a wood chisel from the tool kit. The butterknife has a very low profile which is desirable, but its handle cannot be shoved hard without digging into your hand, or bashed with a hammer without someone hearing what you're doing to the Good Kitchenware. The chisel can be bashed to your heart's content, but it has such a bulky profile it will bend your track and ruin the profile of your switches.
Lifting Track & Switches: The Right Tools For the Job The Right Tool For The Job is typically just a few trips to the hardware store(s) away. I looked all over for these before finding them at Home Depot. The red-handled scraper was in the paint section. It has a big handle and can be easily shoved and worked-around, covering a lot of track in a short time, but its flat part isn't long enough to get all the way under some deeper double-track and double-switch areas. Getting deeper in under the double-track areas, and getting into tight spots elsewhere on the layout, requires the small flat pry bar. The small flat pry bar is a specialty item that showed up in the hand tools section for a summer and then disappeared again, apparently not a good seller. It has a very low profile which is desirable, and it can be shoved fairly hard without digging into your hand, and can be bashed with a hammer without worry.
Cutting Out the Track Once the roadbed is loosened from the homasote base, I cut with a zona saw and a dremel tool. The dremel is fitted with a Dremel 1" diamond-coated cutoff bit. This cutoff bit can't cut straight down due to the bulk of the tool, but the angle parts can be ground straight where needed later on.
Lifting out the Switches The switches are lifted off the cork roadbed - now, aren't you glad you didn't ballast-in all those ties on your switches? You can see bits of ballast on thew switch's tie ends; this was rubber-cemented on during installation. If you have under-switch wiring you are trying to preserve, it can be done, and doesn't necessarily make the job harder. I've never actually used these wires - they're for relays I haven't needed - but I'd stil rather not just clip them off and toss them.
One switch out... ...and one to go. The rubber ballast gets swept up & re-used. The cork roadbed is kept in place here and re-used under these switches.
Carving up the Switches Lay out the switches on a surface that can help you align and protect the switches. A sewing cutter's base pad works ideally for this. Place the switches, measure everything, mark them, measure again, mark the rail tops with a scoring tool (I used a utility knife). Then use the zona saw to mark the rail tops more deeply than the scoring tool does. Use the dremel tool to cut the rails. You can use either the dremel to cut the ties, and/or the zona saw, and/or the utility knife. I used all three, since they were all in reach. "The Right Tool For the Job" after all...
After the First Cut Once you have the first cut done, place the cut switch over the uncut switch to mark the perfect rail-top cut points. Use the same scoring and cutting process as described above. Try to be a little conservative - you can grind off 1/32" easily if you cut too long - but don't be too cautious, since your tools and track will not fare well if you are trying to grind off 1/8" or more. Cut the rail that is close to the frog first, to minimize vibration and disruption of the very-short piece left. Once the rails are cut, you can cut the wood ties. Line up the switches, same as before. Score the tie with the razor, mark and cut the ties with the zona, use the Dremel if you have bits that will help you get through the wood with less disruption to the rails & spikes that remain. Try to get a close fit with the wood ties, but make sure they are not pressing one another! The precision fit all has to be at the rail-tops, not at the ties.
Check the fit! Once you have the ties and rails all cut just right, add rail-connecting pins. The center-rail pin should be a new, full-length pin with the side dimples filed down just a little to keep from deforming the rail-ends. This is your biggest, strongest physical connector. The side pins should be filed smooth, and on the end that goes into the 1" frog-side rail, trim the pin to 3/8" and file the sides slightly. You want the pin to have a firm grip, but you do NOT want the pin to break that tiny rail section loos from its frog! In position, check the fit over and over, adjusting as needed. You can see the outer rail near the yellow wire was filed-down slightly to smooth out a tiny bump.
Switches in place You can see here, the mainline is spaced in a 3 1/4" spacing center-to-center. This makes for some terrific-looking action, as the trains pass so close! The red triangles are flangeway pads I used when running scale wheels on 2-rail 1:48 O Scale rolling stock.
This view shows the tight-spaced rails coming off the switch pair. The switch is now much shorter, so it's further away from the liftout. There is now a good deal of runway for the points-end of the switch, so at the liftout I have plenty of track to work with for adjustments.
These tight-spaced rails have to re-separate to keep the trains from hitting each other at the end of the bridge. The inside curve is replaced with Ross O31 track, and the outside curve is the old ballasted GarGraves Flex track re-worked to ease away, opening up the spacing to 4" center-to-center halfway into the 90-degree turn. At the far end of the turn (off-picture to left), the spacing tightend up again to 3 1/2" center-to-center.
Here are the same switches in place, with the bridge completed and placed as well.
Well, I hope this serves as a good-enough tutorial to get you started! I bought one replacement switch to have on hand for when I ruined one of these in the fitting process, but I didn't need it and lost nothing in terms of switch reliability. And there you have it... Be Bold!! :) |
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