Thanks for your kind words John.
I have seen lots of points with the joints in the stock rails as you describe. My personal preference is not to have any joints in the stock rail as this is the strongest configuration. If I need a joint then I would prefer it halfway between the blade and the frog to give the best staggered joint.
I have seen light weight sets of points that had joints in the stock rails opposite the blade hinges. This allowed the set to be split into two parts for easier transport and lifting. The photo on page 3 and the engraving on page 4 of the WDLR Album shows a set of points that can be split into three sections. this would make movement and assembly in the field much easier at the expense of long term stability (not required in this case).
The last set of points I worked on had a joint in the stock rail part way along the checkrail - an awkward position but dictated by the existing formation before that set was built in situ.
0.3mm gauge widening would certainly assist the passage of longer wheelbase locomotives. 0.3mm scales out to 13mm or 1/2" in full size. Definitely not an excessive amount for a model or a prototype. I have heard of much more severe gauge widening on a very sharp curve on a sugar cane railway.
This raises the question of the use of Sn3 track for modelling 014. It has a design gauge of 14.3mm. Does anyone use it for plain track?
In my previous post I neglected to mention that I use 3 way planed blades from
I use the 11ft code 83 ones. I am also looking at using their etched spikes, The
longer, .015¡±, spikes look dead on for a scale 5/8¡± spike which should be adequate
for most 2ft gauge track. However, they are very fiddly.
Finally, the plan drawing of my points in the files section is not to scale. If people are interested I will publish a fresh drawing which is to scale and has both left and right hand points.
Regards,
Michael Milway
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