I was looking for a better picture, but this will have to do. This is the narrow gauge draw at the East Broad Top’s Mount Union engine house. It’s purpose is to center a narrow gauge locomotive over the pit in the engine house which is behind the camera…
You guys are all confusing the crap put of me.
Peter’s turnout where the dual gauge only goes one direction makes sense me and see no reason why I need to do anything more.
So in my pictures/scenario I have a single wye for the 45mm track. As it stands currently as a single gauge line the 45mm is split to the right and to the left in a wye configuration.
I want to add a third rail for 32mm that will only go to the right side of the wye and not the left. So in terms of the 32mm line there is not a wye or any sort of turnout it simply needs to veer right. Now I understand from Peter’s diagram that the 32mm must contended with he 45mms point rails. So on of the 32mm rails will be fixed to the right and the other leg will share a point rail with the 45mm.
But I see no reason why I would need to shunt the 32 mm from one side to the other when it in reality is no going through a wye but as viewed on its own is simply a right hand turn that has to cross the 45mm left turn.
That is exactly what Devon is talking about. I have a wye track arrangement for turning locomotives in 45mm. Where we are talking about is the tip of this wye track arrangement where a Y switch is located. So the 45mm splits left and right. And the “point” of that extends straight across a bridge and dead ends. When thinking of it in terms of only the 45mm track it is nothing more than a wye track to turn locos.
Now I want to include a dual guage section on the bridge. When it leaves the bridge it enters the “wye” by way of the point of the Y turnout. When I say point of the wye I mean the straight section or bottom of the “Y” if viewed like this capital letter.
If we look at it from the perspective of a capital “Y” the dual gauge will come in the bottom and only go right. The only thing going left will be 45mm
You don’t need a draw if not traversing the wye. I just posted because it’s a neat piece of dual gauge track work.
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I do think I will need a draw just not at the wye. I will need it after it leaves the bridge on the other end so the 32mm can diverge from the 45mm.
I don’t see why you need worry about which side the narrow gauge is - i.e. which side is sharing a running rail. If the 32mm from the ‘concentrator’ comes in to the 45mm on what I call an ‘escape’, and shares the left hand running rail so the 32mm rail is on the right side of the center (see your pic below) then you’ll need a Y switch like the pic I posted.
After that you need another ‘escape’ but this one crosses the right hand running rail on its way out. A bit like a switch but without any blades as you can direct the wheels with check rails instead of points.
Peter i am completely tracking with you. While I was thinking I needed to switch sides I can see now where it doesn’t need to. The escape just needs to be made accordingly. I am pretty sure I have tracked with your entire description and can get it done.
As you like pics, and as I didn’t have a drawing, I modified (crudely) an existing one. Here’s what your second escape to the ore bins would look like:
Why would you need 2 points??? In Pete’s drawing, the only point to throw would be the top one…
Seems like the point in the middle could/would be just straight rail…
Or am I missing something here…
Andy
If you have a dual guage section spliting into two single guage tracks no points are needed. Guard rails are used to ensure the wheels go in the proper direction.
In Rooster’s photos the dual guage continues in one direction and the standard guage breaks off in the other direction. In this case the standard guage track is a normal turnout with two points and the narrow gauge only goes through a single point.
Note that the turnout in the upper part of his photo shows the dual gauge continuing and the narrow gauge breaking off which means the narrow gauge is a standard turnout with two points and the standard guage only going through a single point,
Hope that helps
Stan
Such an interesting conversation. I am pretty sure I have a handle on what needs to happen. But I do love the on going conversation. Dual gauge operations is a fun challenge.
Sunset Valley Railroad makes duel gauge tie strips.
Do they hold llagas track?
Sunset Valley and Llagas Creek track have different rail base profiles and widths.
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Hi Devon,
I’ve messed a little with dual gauge. In fact, there is a small section of the “timesaver” modules and that was done over ties provided by David Queener and Don Niday. Their plastic ties were made for Code 250 rail and I skinned the tie plates off and used them for 332 track.
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Stan Ames is laying dual gauge, narrow and standard guage 1:20.3 on his outsode layout and may have some opinions.
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Another idea I tried before using David Queener’s and Don Niday’s plastic ties, was to cut the ties right next to the tie plate on the outside of 332 plastic ties and then lay another piece of track with ties cut right on the inside of the tie plates. Most of the cuts of the ties could be hidden in ballast and ground clutter.
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Just thoughts. Please keep us posted on our results. Sounds like a great idea.
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