One job that I had been putting off for too long was fitting dummy point
rodding. It needed to be done before I could get on with adding details
to the front half of the layout, as it would be too difficult to access
where it had to go without causing damage. With an invite to the Ally
Palley 2020 exhibition, I really wanted to get it done in time for that. I
just managed to complete it before receiving confirmation that the event
was cancelled. C'est la vie. Anyway, it has given me time to add
further details before any rescheduled exhibition, whenever that might be.
On Freshwater, rodding was only required for a crossover pair of points
near the buffer stops, a point and linked trap point at the station
throat, and the facing point lock (FPL) with fouling bar protecting the
point at the station throat. Hardly anything, really. I had two etches
of point rodding, and one of cranks and pulleys, available from the 2mm
Scale Association. These were acquired before the better looking system
of etches and guitar wire, created by Laurie Adams, was launched.
However, on reading up the instructions for this new system, it was
clear that Laurie's system should really be installed before any ballasting, or
scenic work is attempted. It was hard enough adding the simpler system
to Freshwater with ballast and the station platform in place.
The etched nickel silver rodding I had comprised two runs of 7 rods,
each about 11cm long, with cross joins where the support rollers would
be. This can be cut down to narrower runs. For Freshwater, only three
rods leave the signal box, and the longest stretch is only two rods, so I
had plenty. I chose to use code 40 bullhead rail to form the roller
supports. They would not have the detail of the newer system, but being
near the far side of the layout, and suitably weathered, the lack of
detail will only show in close-up photos.
I started by cutting out lengths of triple and double rodding. A length
of the code 40 rail was then laid across one of the etched cross joins,
the end of the rail lining up with the side edge of the rodding. It was
then soldered down, and the rail cut close to the other edge of the
rodding with the faithful Xuron cutters. This was repeated, and
repeated, and repeated ....
From the signal box, there is a short run of 3 rods across behind the
buffer stops to a right angle corner before running along the front of
the platform. For the corner, three right angle cranks were soldered to
an offcut of etch, with spacer scraps under each crank so they sat at
different heights to avoid interfering with each other. This was given a
quick spray of grey primer, and glued in place with UV curing glue.
This glue was a godsend in this process, as it gave ample chance to
adjust the position of items, and hold them in place, but a 4 second
blast of the blue light set it firmly in place. I don't think this job
would have been possible with either superglue or epoxy resin.
With the cranks in place in the corner, a length of triple rodding was
trimmed to length to fit between the signal box and the cranks, and the
rods at the end next to the cranks gently bent to match the different
levels of the three cranks. The rodding was then positioned, and glued
with more UV glue, one support at a time. This was not easy in the
cramped space between the buffer stops, platforms faces and signal box,
but it was satisfying once done, and proved that it was worth while
completing the job. There is also a pulley for a signal wire to a ground
signal guarding the crossover, but I am not sure I will find anything
small enough to represent the wire.
The next run was to the two points for the crossover. This required
joining three lengths of rodding, by carefully soldering the ends with a
small overlap. One rod connects to both points of the crossover, so a
short length of a single rod was soldered underneath one of the triple
rods, gently bent down to reach a right angle crank. This should be one
of the adjustable cranks. This crank was soldered to another etch offcut
to form its base. The third rod was then cut to length for the position
of a second adjustable crank further along the platform. This delicate
lacework was then glued down, one support at a time, with the UV glue.
Short lengths of nickel silver rod were then glued between the cranks
and the points, to give the appearance that they connected to tie bars.
There then followed a long run of twin rods along the platform edge
towards the point at the station approach. About halfway, a pair of
compensators needed to be fitted. These convert a pull to a push (or
vice versa) and automatically take account of expansion and contraction
of the rods as the temperature changes. The expansion of one length of
rod that is pushing is cancelled out by the expansion of the second
length of rod that is pulling. Clever stuff.
At the far end of the run, one rod is linked to the point and trap
point, similar to the crossover, while the remaining rod continues on
alone to operate the FPL, with a fouling bar preventing operation of the
lock when a vehicle is on it. The rod to the trap point had to have
extra cranks as the rod crossing the tracks needed to thread through the
point timbers ahead of the trap point blade.
Of course, I ran out of etch with a couple of inches left to complete,
and a quick order to the 2mm Scale Association for another etch had to
made.
It was formed from odd bits and pieces to roughly resemble the real thing.
A final touch was adding manual point levers to the rest of the goods yard points. I also read up about how they work in real life, which is fascinating, and again, clever stuff.
Mostly the rodding is out of the way of the track cleaner. It is just
part of the FPL that is slightly above rail level. The manual point
levers are a different matter. I place inverted plastic shot
glasses over them while I work on the layout, but have demolished and replace two already.
