When the turnouts are glued down, then servicing/repairing them becomes a big issue. When I first got involved with the Central CT G Gaugers, they were using Elmers glue to hold down their turnouts and doing a long time soak to remove them which really messed up the module tops and the ballast which was also stuck down with 50% Elmers and water.
Bob MacGregor said:
When the turnouts are glued down, then servicing/repairing them becomes a big issue. When I first got involved with the Central CT G Gaugers, they were using Elmers glue to hold down their turnouts and doing a long time soak to remove them which really messed up the module tops and the ballast which was also stuck down with 50% Elmers and water.
Yes, it sure doesn’t help. 
Personally I prefer a few tabs of silicone, handy for prefab track components and very easy to remove. The ballast on the other hand is a different story. Using sloping cork strips - sprinkled with ballast - snugged up to the track does a “good enough” job without the complications.
When reporting the problems with the WR switches. I’m surprised that no-one mentions the disintegration of the throw bars, after being in the sun a few years. The replacement that Aristo used to provide were no better. The best replacement proved to be a short length of brass flat stock, drilled and applied…of course for those that use track power, that would cause a short, so fiberglass printed circuit board was the answer for them…
Hi Hans,
Being a modular group, everything that stays on the modules needs to be screwed down. I have installed backup pieces under most of the track on the modules and most of the screws go into these pieces. I drill extra holes in the turnout ties and install screws, #4 SS pan head tapping. On several other fairly permanent layouts that I got involved with, the screw heads were painted brown or black. I tried the same size screw in a flathead, but countersinking the tie holes was a problem, some not deep enough, some too deep. I switched a countersink to one with a smaller angle that is generally used with aircraft hardware and this was better but not the final answer.
Years ago I built an elevated single line layout for a older man in New Hampshire. It was all done to his specs, and the track was all hand laid using rail plates and spikes. I used #4 SS flat head screws located under the plates to hold the ties in place. This way there were no screw heads showing at all. I cut small triangular strips of wood to the specs and these were glued to the module tops paralleling the rails and beyond the tie ends about 5/8". This contained the ballast that he stored in a large shop vac and with a specially designed ballast car, he would distribute the ballast around the single track. He did many trainshows with this layout and before he would take it down, he would suck up the ballast back into the shop vac. This layout was used for both track power and live steam. The chap passed away about 8 years ago in his late 90s and I have no idea what happened to the layout.
Fred Mills, BSc, BS, SD said:
When reporting the problems with the WR switches. I’m surprised that no-one mentions the disintegration of the throw bars, after being in the sun a few years. The replacement that Aristo used to provide were no better. The best replacement proved to be a short length of brass flat stock, drilled and applied…of course for those that use track power, that would cause a short, so fiberglass printed circuit board was the answer for them…
Hi Fred, I had made some replacements from fairly thick plastic and located the holes using my milling machine. For sure the sun gets to everything sooner or later. I have some carbide end mills in smaller sizes lurking around my shop/garage, just need to find them!!! Dremel makes some smaller ones and I know where those are!!!
Gee, Fred and Bob, I didn’t realize how many problems I don’t have with my Aristo switches that I could have. I spray painted my track work, well most of it, to simulate rusty tie plates and old weathered ties. That paint must have helped preserve my track work. Also the shade of various trees around the railroad must have helped too.
After I installed my Aristo switches back in 02, I found there were problems with them. I ended up sanding the frogs down, so the top of the frog was at the same height as the rails. Then I had to deepen the flange-ways in the frogs. I held 3 hacksaw bladed together in a pair of vice grips and slid them back and forth in the flange-way until it was 1/8th an inch deep. Then I filed the points so the top of the points was a bit more rounded and I filed the back of the points so they laid better against the stock rails. Now I just have to make sure neither the points, nor the flange-ways, are blocked with bits of ballast and run trains.
Ray, what is the actual measurement of your “tight gauge” sections? I’m curious.
Also, have you double checked not only the back to back on your rolling stock, but the gauge also?
On many G scale trains, overly thick flanges can make it an impossibility to get both of these measurements right.
I have several WR switches on my layout, on the main line, and have not had issues with them once I have worked them over.
Ray, let me know, maybe I can come over some weekend and we could brainstorm a solution that does not require you replacing your switches.
Regards, Greg
p.s. And Todd, I took the picture off because I did not realize it was yours, not George’s whose permission I had, and I also did not agree that you “invented the idea”… why you keep bringing it up I don’t know… I guess it is your life-long ambition to force me to say you invented the idea… I don’t know for sure and I don’t care. Bringing this up every time on the forum will ensure that I will never capitulate to your desire and we will bore everyone else who could give a rat’s patoot about it… get over it.
On the shim idea, that has been used in HO for a very long time, for the very same reason: some mfgs not adhering to standards, be they NMRA or NEM standards.
OTOH in LS “we don’t need no stupid standards” therefore “close enough will be good enough”, at least that’s what I read and hear.
Todd, Greg:
Not to co-opt an Archeology term, but perhaps you could consider Independent Invention as a possible explanation. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/e/softbank_ne_jp.B12)
Mark Hadler said:
Todd, Greg:
Not to co-opt an Archeology term, but perhaps you could consider Independent Invention as a possible explanation. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/e/softbank_ne_jp.B12)
No doubt that others may have devised similar-type shims held in place in whatever fashion.
But recognize that no one was doing it in the fashion shown in G-scale, or at least that had any pictures posted anywhere, back in 1997-1998.
The picture of my conception/implementation of the idea posted on George Schreyer’s site is what caught on in the hobby in our scale. Some just fail to acknowledge that.
There are some very interesting shims on the market e.g. this one from Heyn Modellbau
…
He produces them for the 5 different types of LGB turnouts. I don’t know when they came on the market. For his system/items one drills 1.5 mm holes in the ties and inserts the shims.
Ray, you say that the problem is that your stuff will only run reliably in one direction.
Let me guess, your problem is that you are picking the points because they don’t close all the way. Am I close? If so, the solution is to clean the switch mechanism, including the crossbar. Its easy to take apart and put back together, the only hard part is making sure you don’t loose those little screws. Once that’s done, lube it liberally with graphite that you got in the lock section at the hardware store, not the LHS.
Look for small rocks caught between the guard rails and the other rails.
The brass strip talked about above is a good temporary fix. I used Fred’s permanent method of replacing the plastic guard rail with a metal one at the proper interval.
Do the cleaning, first, I think you will be surprised, I sure was.
Just an added historical note on the Aristo throwbar, Lewis Polk admitted on his forum that the throwbar is NOT UV “protected” plastic. Until they went out of business, you could get free replacement throwbars.
A prime candidate for replacement, especially since the outer part of the “loop” is so thin.
Regards, Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Just an added historical note on the Aristo throwbar, Lewis Polk admitted on his forum that the throwbar is NOT UV “protected” plastic. Until they went out of business, you could get free replacement throwbars.
A prime candidate for replacement, especially since the outer part of the “loop” is so thin.
Regards, Greg
Yeah, fergot to mention that. I’ve replaced mine with brass, both on the WR, and on the #6. I’ve done the same cleaning on my #6 switches, too.
With respects to the non-UV plastic on the throwbar, this hasn’t been a problem for us because we place inverted ceramic saucers over the turnouts, to keep the water out of the motors, when not in use. This also provides protection for the moving parts and a good portion of the ties from sun damage. As an added bonus, the shading inhibits plant and weed growth around the motor. And it gives the lizards a place to live when the buildings have to come in for the fall and winter.
But, the humidity can make the brass tarnish and turn blue faster in wet environments. And of course, people will ask why you have saucers on your turnouts when not in use.
Todd, tell them they are alien landing pads. 
Steve Featherkile said:
Ray, you say that the problem is that your stuff will only run reliably in one direction.
Let me guess, your problem is that you are picking the points because they don’t close all the way.
Sometimes, but mostly it’s climbing the frog, or the rail just past the frog.
Ray Dunakin said:
Steve Featherkile said:
Ray, you say that the problem is that your stuff will only run reliably in one direction.
Let me guess, your problem is that you are picking the points because they don’t close all the way.
Sometimes, but mostly it’s climbing the frog, or the rail just past the frog.
After passing over the points? Do you have any problems with trailing points? You said just one way.
Ray, that really sounds like back to back and/or gauge issues.
When you get a chance, post measurements, we may be able to solve this.
Shimming the guard rails to NMRA standards will help a lot, but will not fix bad wheelset dimensions, in fact it will make it worse if you have narrow back to back, which is typical of most large scale rolling stock (to compensate for overly thick flanges and overly wide flangeways).
You really have to do both, tune the switches and verify your rolling stock. I learned this when I only “fixed” half the problem.
Luckily I had some good mentors years back, and when several actual railroad men explained how switches were supposed to work, and I put 2 and 2 together, it all made sense.
Greg
Yea, when my Heartland 0-4-4 did that (climbed the frog) I found that the drivers on that locomotive were under gauge, and the trailing truck was over gauge. Checking and properly setting the gauge on my rolling stock has solved a lot of problems.