Commission: N gauge crossover…

The wonderful British Finescale turnout kits in N gauge are a real boom to 'finer' scale N gauge modelling allowing us to re-create bull-head track with lighter code 40 rail... 

I was recently asked to assemble this cross-over for a customer who felt confident with the plain track assembly but was a little apprehensive of the cross over. I chose to assemble this following the instructions but added a few small 'James Hilton' touches to their operation which should make wiring them up a little easier for my customer.

First of all, provision is made for the turnout blades and outer rails to be bonded, so I've done this to remove the need to rely on blade contact for power transmission. You can also see you need to modify the base of the sleeper web as although on the plain turnouts I've built this gap is larger to clear the tie-bar, on this crossing kit this wasn't the case - check before assembly on your kit.

I've added isolation breaks in the centre of the crossing to effectively create a pair of turnouts, that can be conventionally wired with either DPDT switches or frog juicers to control the frog polarity. These gaps are filled with a tiny sliver of styrene and superglue. Care must be take to then clean up these gaps to ensure everything is free running. In the photo above you can see a small sliver of styrene in the left of the frogs, photos are great for spotting little things that need rectification. 

If you have a project you need some help with, be it a turnout, a structure or building, tree or as much as layout design or building - get in touch for a no-obligation fixed price proposal. In the meantime, until next time more soon...

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