Turnouts
Per the plan, there will be over one hundred turnouts installed on the layout. Mostly, they will be simple left- or right-hand, but there will be variations. Three-way turnouts were installed at Casterton because the land available for the yard was quite small. About half the site was excavated from the side of a hill, and that spoil then used to build up the other half. Along with a couple of wyes, Hamilton yard will see the occasional double or single compound (slip). The American number six frog (known as a V-crossing within the Victorian Railways) will be standard, as this is close to the Victorian 600-foot (183m) radius turnout. There will be a couple of number five frogs in the loco depot at Casterton, as space was at a premium for the original railway contractors. For the three-way turnouts, special compound V-crossings are made up using Fast Tracks jigs, as will be the K-crossings used for the compounds. Note: Victorian terminology specifies the word ‘sleeper’ for the timber cross member that supports normal track, and ‘point timbers’ for use in turnouts. Curiously, when the sleepers are replaced, the process is known as tie renewal.
As it was with the simple trackwork, finding proprietary O Scale turnouts that looked Victorian was a futile task. So, I had to make my own. Although I had never hand-laid turnouts before, I was keen to try the Fast Tracks system. All the necessary tools, jigs and supplies were obtained, and I set to work. The first one was a bit of a disaster as it was full of short circuits. I tried again and this time I achieved a much better result. But when I inserted the wooden sleepers between the ‘printed circuit board ties’ the result did not look right. After discussing the problem with a fellow modeller, we found a hybrid solution whereby I make use of Right-O-Way frog and guard rail castings and use the Fast Tracks jigs to prepare the stock rails and point blades. The use of the Fast Tracks printed circuit board for the throw bar was retained also.
I went one step further with the code 125 turnouts by adding Right-O-Way rail braces and gauge plates. The rail braces are sweat
