Paul asks: Have you come across Peco points where the switch rail comes adrift from the tiebar? If so, any thoughts on how to repair whilst at the same time preserving the overlock spring action ?The simple answer is no I haven't. Apart from a single barely used 009 example, it is at least 15 years since I used a Peco point in anger. All our trackwork is nickel silver rail soldered to PCB sleepers.
Switch rails do come adrift from tiebars with this system, especially since we use Peco point motors with a nice healthy thwack to change the route. It's a pain but a few seconds with a soldering iron usually fixes things with added bonus of giving a suitable weapon to stuff up the nose of the idiot who decides to display his "expertise" on why you've done it wrong.
On a plastic tiebar, this isn't going to work. Well, not unless you consider reducing the point to a melted lump that smells like the sinuses of the aforementioned "expert".
You could consider replacing the tiebar with a PCB sleeper. It will need the copper-cladding scraping away to insulate one side from the other. The soldering will need to be a bit nifty too unless you want melty sleepers.
Another issue is that this will remove the locking mechanism but here, all is not lost. Use a Peco point motor and the adaptor base to mount it under the baseboard and locking is restored. The adaptor base has an over-centre spring in it too. Sometimes this has to be removed if the solenoid isn't strong enough to move two springs.
Apart from this, I think you are in for some point replacement. Unless an reader knows better. Please suggest away in the comments box and lets see if we can find a solution.
1 comment:
One thing's for certain... you can't buy spares from Peco. I tried late last year as I wanted a few to try out a modification... but I got a very negative response.
Alan
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