Website News Archive: November 2007
16 November 2007
The Handlaid Track and Code 25 Turnout pages have become "hot" lately as interest in Code 25 rail is gaining attention at various discussion boards. I've been updating these and other pages on a fairly regular basis. Because the content may change on any page at this site, be sure to hit your browser's "Refresh" button so that you are seeing the latest version. One of the things that has been consistently emerging as a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) is: What will run on this track? This has been addressed on the Code 25 Turnout page. Also be sure to see my latest blog entry, Good Track: A Key to Improved Overall Realism.
13 November 2007
This evening the throwbar was fabricated in about ten minutes and installed in the turnout (it took longer to take the new pictures for the Code 25 Turnout page). For people with absolutely nothing better to do, here's a 23-second video of me scooting a freight car back and forth through the turnout. Since the copper on the ties hasn't been cut yet, I can't power the rails, so I must 0-5-0 cars around for now.
10 November 2007
Today marks a "world first" (as far as I know): A handlaid Code 25 Z Scale turnout.
What was amazing to me was how easily it went together. After about two hours of careful bending, clipping
and soldering, I had a surprisingly smooth-running turnout. It's not 100% yet; I still need to make the
throwbar. But all of the really hard work is done. In actuality, I didn't need to make the turnout functional,
as I don't intend to do any switching. But I felt that making a "dummy" turnout would be
"cheating," and I wouldn't learn as much. Loads of photographs and details are on the new
Code 25 Turnout page.
7 November 2007
Tracklaying
has finally taken a major step forward. The first step is always the hardest, so getting the
first rail down was cause for celebration. What I found most startling is that just the rail
of Märklin's sectional track is taller than the handlaid track in its entirety. This is made
vividly clear by the macro photo at right, which shows the transition from sectional to handlaid
track. The transition was made by grinding a small relief in the side of the sectional rail end;
the Code 25 wire was then soldered into the relief. The chapter on Handlaid
Track has been updated with a few progress photos.
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