Fast Tracks

Can I use the Fast Track assembly fixtures to build a yard ladder? Does anyone have any info and details on how to do this with these? Photos would be a great help.

I want to keep the straight stock rail as long as needed without joints.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, I've done this, though the other way around (for space considerations, my ladder grows on the diverging route.) I found that I can comfortably get three #6 switches built on a single 3' piece of rail; a smaller switch size might get you more, but I haven't tried.

Eyeballing it your way (with my #6 dual-gauge code 70 template, YMMV,) it looks like there shouldn't be any problem moving your work from one position to the next; it might even be easier, since you don't have mixed curves and straights to contend with. I could get as close as 1-1/2" between diverging centers without soldered ties from one pass interfering with the jig for the next pass. It might also be possible to get up to 4 switches per length of rail. I'm not sure... now you've got me curious!

http://thomas.tuerke.net/on/mrr/#msg-952184150

Then again, if fiddling and "moments of inspiration" don't help you out, I'm sure the good folks here can customize a template to give you exactly what you need...

Thomas, thanks for the info. I want to keep the ladder's individual diverging rails at the proper distance for the yard track spacing, but I'm not sure what that spacing should be. Looks like the typical width of a diesel is about 1 and 3/8" or so. I would like to use 1-3/4" centerline spacing - or am I thinking too close? I have not tried putting together an involved yard before and I want to make maximum reasonable usage of my space.

Well, the NMRA has guidelines, published at http://www.nmra.org/standards/s-8.html, but the other determining factors are (a) the period you're interested in representing and, (b) the convenience of the Big Crane in the Sky being able to set things right. Earlier eras spaced track much closer together, but that gets troublesome if the yard has any curves... the longer your rolling stock, the more likely adjacent tracks will interfere with each other.

One recommendation is to slap down two parallel bits of flex track on a scrap of plywood to model the tightest curve you expect to encounter on parallel track and run all your rolling stock on it. That'll help you decide how close you want tracks to be, but chances are you'll be in the 2" to 2-1/4" range, which should be far looser than any mechanical limit imposed by the template. Here again, you might experiment by building a switch with the stock rail remaining full length, then repositioning it in the jig until you get the desired centerlines. When you're ready to "mass produce" your switches, make a note of the distance from the last tie of the previous switch and the first tie socket in the template. That'll be the space you'll move the yard throat assembly each time.

The key is to do your homework, since there are a lot of variables: your yard geometry, the frog number of your switches, the particular template you use (like I said, I use the dual-gauge #6, and that may be slightly different from the normal standard-gauge #6 template) and so on.

But, if it doesn't work, don't worry, because you should be able to cut apart any "failures" for use in individual switch situations.

Good luck.