What you will need
SHOPPING LIST
◆◆ Peco SL-88 streamlined right-hand point. Availability: Peco stockists ◆◆ PVA glue, craft suppliers ◆◆ Ballast, www.woodlandscenics.com
TOOLS
◆◆ Dremel with cutting disk ◆◆ Soldering iron ◆◆ Pliers ◆◆ Side cutters ◆◆ Old chisel ◆◆ Mini hoover
1
Start by removing nearby details such as catenary masts to avoid damage to them, and obtain a replacement point, in this case a Peco SL-88. Be sure to get an identical point, otherwise the alignment will be different.
2
Use a cutting disk in a Dremel to cut a slit through the ballast around the edge of the damaged point. This will prevent adjacent ballast being disturbed when removing the point. Make sure you wear eye protection. pins lift section damaged 4 up and Pull any the of gently track out main the point. have power any If dropper you wires on, you soldered will need to remove these. In my case, frog they soldered still this in stage. end were situ that to at the is 3 Use the cutting disk to cut through the rails and sleepers about 1cm in from the end of the point being removed. Cut the rail that is a part of the point, not the adjacent track as again, you don’t want to damage that section.
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now case, which difficult. 5 need With remaining my makes Use track the to a be this point soldering joints 1cm removed. a little out sections are of more iron soldered, In the my to of way, rail the CAUTION carefully heating on the adjacent the heat main up track. the section joint, Then of rail use side out the cutters end of or rail angled to be pliers removed. to pull This should come out with the fishplate, leaving a clean end to the adjacent rail. If there are dropper wires, these should be disconnected at this stage. Be careful with the soldering iron to avoid damage to the sleepers. Also, beware that the joint being removed will suddenly come free, so it’s possible that the rail will move quickly and could damage adjacent scenery. In which case, you’re also likely to scuff your hand (I’m talking from experience!), so take care.
6
Using an old chisel, remove the ballast from the area where the point was. Clear this away with a vacuum cleaner to leave the area clear. In the photograph you will see that I left one fishplate in place on the adjacent rail, this was refusing to budge but won’t be a problem. You can also see the point motor bar and some dropper connections. A little bit more cleaning up of the ballast is still required in the right hand corner. My track is laid on cork and the ballast will lift quite cleanly from this, other surfaces may need a bit more cleaning up.
Put fishplates onto the adjoining rails at
7
one end of the point only. It will usually be easiest to do this for the four rails at the diverging end but depending on your location you may need to do the other end. Use new fishplates of the same type as before, I had insulated fishplates on one track for my DCC block detection.
8 You can’t put fishplates on at both
ends or it will be impossible to fit the new point back into place (don’t be tempted to bend the point, this will cause permanent damage). To get around this, I have developed a neat trick. Slide fishplates on to the other end of the new point, pushing them in as far as they will go. Then use the cutting disk to cut off the protruding section, leaving a half-length fishplate. In a following step you will slide this back on to the adjacent rail to join up the track. It’s important to cut the fishplates when attached to some rail. If you attempt to cut them when not attached they will close up, making them useless. If you are nervous about cutting them on the end of the new point you could do it on a scrap length of rail and then transfer them.
9 Carefully fit the new point, joining it to the new fishplates fitted in step 7.
This is one of those tasks where an extra hand would be useful! Take your time to line things up and don’t force anything. If there are bits of ballast still in the way, remove them, and ensure the baseboard under the point is smooth. I had to trim the end of a sleeper back to get the point to fit into the junction. I was also lucky that I managed to get the point motor pin to go back into the tie bar but you may need to remove the point motor and refit it afterwards.
With the new point laid in place, use angled pliers to gently move the half-length fishplates (cut in step 8) on to the adjacent rails. They don’t need to go on very far, just far enough to ensure the rails are correctly aligned. Use some track pins to hold the new point securely. Check that all the rail joints at each end are smooth then solder the joints and connect back any dropper wires. Finally, if you had to remove the point motor, connect it back up. At this stage, test run some trains through the point and ensure the point motor works. Any issues with misalignment or bad electrical joints need to be fixed now.
When you are happy everything works, carefully sprinkle in some new ballast around the edges of the new point. Because of the cuts made in step 2, the area to be repaired should be minimal. Use a ballast that will match the surrounding area. Mist the area with water then fix the ballast with diluted PVA in the normal way.
Once the ballast is 12
dry you can finish the area off. My track is sprayed with Railmatch Sleeper Grime, so it’s quite easy to blend the repair back in. Depending on the scenic finish around your track, you may have some more scenic work to do in order to blend the repair back in. Clean paint and glue off the surfaces of the rail with a track rubber. Make sure that there isn’t any ballast in the gaps through the point ‘vees’ or between the check rails and avoid getting paint on the moving parts of the point.