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Points


stevep5b
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The Answer is yes, if...

The spring on the point is weak enough,

The rolling stock going over it is heavy enough.

Note;

If you're planning a circle of track to a single track you will get a short between the two rails.

If this is a passing loop, it should work, they do this on the Bure Valley railway ( A 12inches to the foot narrow gauge railway in Norfolk)

You'll have to set up a test tack on a table and do repeated tests to get the weight / spring strength right..

Alternative plan, A contact or light or switch that is set by the train as it approaches to set the point using a motor.

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Hi Steve, I have recently bought some second hand Fleischmann points that are fitted with point motors (side mounted) and they can be trailed. The return spring is quite weak, however they are a bit temperamental and I do not think they would be very good on an outdoor section of a layout. Once they are set up correctly however they are very good.

I like your Avitar, I wonder where you got the idea from! :lol:

Are you modelling the US scene?

Nige.

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Hi Nige, I like my avatar too, I found the picture on the web somewhere and thought that looks familiar, I'll use it.

Thanks for you comments regarding points, I'm a great believer in KISS and would prefer not to use point motors out side in the weather. My layout is in the planning stage and the track plan is drawn up and will use a shuttle train that gives the illusion of two trains on separate tracks which converge at the same station but at different levels . The idea is this will run automatically in the background while I drive other loco's around. I have recently purchased the shuttle electronics and will set out a practice line to make sure things work before actually building. So far I have planned, four tunnels, three bridges, road with level crossing, goods yard, canal with warehousing, two platforms and one station building. Gradients are excessive so will need to keep the train as short as possible and as many powered bogies as necessary .

http://www.mcabroad.net/london13/travel/airport-shuttle-train-is-fastest/

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Sounds interesting Steve, the shuttles will be good, it will "make" the layout if you do it right! Just be careful with the gradients, I built a layout for my son some years ago and included a couple of what I thought were reasonable gradients, in fact the train I tested the layout with found no difficulty what so ever, it was only when I came to put on the Hornby and Lima stuff etc that my lad wanted to run that it became apparent that it would not work. They would only make it (struggle) up the gradients with either a couple of coaches or half a dozen wagons and that was it, where as when I tested it with one our US loco's six or eight coaches or twelve or more box cars were no problem at all. So if I were you I would build a simple test track/ramp and use the stock that you intend to run and see how they perform on the hills before you start the layout, similar to what you are doing with the shuttle. :)

Nige.

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