# Make your own crossing?



## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

I need to make a crossing for 2 tracks, but I am unsure of the actual angle.

Does any company make an adjustable crossing?

Is there any way to make my own and it actually work?


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

swimmer_spe said:


> I need to make a crossing for 2 tracks, but I am unsure of the actual angle.
> 
> Does any company make an adjustable crossing?
> 
> Is there any way to make my own and it actually work?


No and Yes.

But a piece of track work like that is not something I would attempt as my first project.

You best bet might be to look at what you can purchase and adapt your track plan to fit.

Or perhaps you could find someone to make what you need.

Of course you have nothing to lose but time and a little bit of material if you try to make them yourself.

Frederick


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

You could make them yourself.

I think, though, a better solution would be to just buy the stock crossing closest to the angle you need, and use a bit of flex track to adjust the approaches as necessary. Just another of the advantages of flex over roadbed / sectional track.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I am in HO scale, but don't see why this wouldn't work in N scale. I happened to have a tub of spackle and brought the grade up to the rails and used a piece of styrene to put between the rails. Sanded the rails lightly to remove any spackle from the top of the rails and painted the road surface. 










Here's another one I am working on for multiple tracks. 










Here's another over multiple tracks. Styrene embossed as planking was used was used on this one.


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

Chet said:


> I am in HO scale, but don't see why this wouldn't work in N scale. I happened to have a tub of spackle and brought the grade up to the rails and used a piece of styrene to put between the rails. Sanded the rails lightly to remove any spackle from the top of the rails and painted the road surface.
> 
> Here's another one I am working on for multiple tracks.
> 
> Here's another over multiple tracks. Styrene embossed as planking was used was used on this one.


I mean where 2 tracks cross each other.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Scratch-built crossing and turnouts*



swimmer_spe said:


> I need to make a crossing for 2 tracks, but I am unsure of the actual angle.
> 
> Does any company make an adjustable crossing?
> 
> Is there any way to make my own and it actually work?


swimer_spe;

Yes you can make your own crossing(s), turnouts, or just plain track. Yes you can make them actually work. I have built all three, using PC ties soldered to a large piece of PC board. (See photos below.) However I certainly agree with CTValley's caution about doing something this complicated if you are not experienced, particularly in soldering. I've been modeling in N-scale for many years. I don't know what your experience level is, but if you want to try it fine. There is an earlier post of mine titled "How I build my own turnouts", in the "General Model Train Discussion" section. It is long, and you may want to skip several parts of it, since it doesn't cover crossings, just turnouts. However it does cover the basic technique of soldering rails to PC ties and checking the track gauge carefully. Both would apply to crossings as well as turnouts.
Electrically, there are too different types of crossing (two ways of wiring) The crossings I build are "all rail", or "all metal" crossings. These require more complicated wiring than commercial crossings. 
The ones sold by Atlas, and other manufacturers, are "insulated crossings", with some plastic rail parts. These don't require any special wiring. Electrically, they are simply two separate track sections that cross each other, with the two routes and the two rails of each track, all insulated from each other. It would be possible to build such an insulated crossing, but though the electrical part is simpler, the physical construction would be more complicated. Neither type is going to be easy to build. Using a commercial crossing and fitting the track to match it, as suggested, would be much simpler.

regards;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos: 

The top photo shows a "crossover" rather than a crossing, but all the turnouts and track are scratch-built.
The bottom photo shows two "all rail" crossings that I built to fit into curved tracks at an angle. This is something that's not available commercially, so I had to build my own.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Scratch-built crossing and turnouts*

00000


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

traction fan said:


> swimer_spe;
> 
> Yes you can make your own crossing(s), turnouts, or just plain track. Yes you can make them actually work. I have built all three, using PC ties soldered to a large piece of PC board. (See photos below.) However I certainly agree with CTValley's caution about doing something this complicated if you are not experienced, particularly in soldering. I've been modeling in N-scale for many years. I don't know what your experience level is, but if you want to try it fine. There is an earlier post of mine titled "How I build my own turnouts", in the "General Model Train Discussion" section. It is long, and you may want to skip several parts of it, since it doesn't cover crossings, just turnouts. However it does cover the basic technique of soldering rails to PC ties and checking the track gauge carefully. Both would apply to crossings as well as turnouts.
> Electrically, there are too different types of crossing (two ways of wiring) The crossings I build are "all rail", or "all metal" crossings. These require more complicated wiring than commercial crossings.
> ...


The bottom picture is what I need. If any company made adjustable crossings I would buy them in a heart beat. Sadly, making my own seems the only logical step.

I have soldered in the past, so this is not so hard for me to do.

Please provide more information to do it.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

swimmer_spe said:


> The bottom picture is what I need. If any company made adjustable crossings I would buy them in a heart beat. Sadly, making my own seems the only logical step.
> 
> I have soldered in the past, so this is not so hard for me to do.
> 
> Please provide more information to do it.


You should have no problem finding videos on YouTube.

Soldering is the easy part - aside from too much heat ruining PC ties.

The important part is getting all the dimensions correct.

After viewing some videos you should have a good idea of the tools you will need as well.

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> You should have no problem finding videos on YouTube.
> 
> Soldering is the easy part - aside from too much heat ruining PC ties.
> 
> ...


This is for a wye. The crossing is due to me not having enough space for the wye, and so, the turnouts will cross each other before getting back with each other. I plan to make most of the wye with Atlas flextrack Is there a simple way to join them?


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

swimmer_spe said:


> This is for a wye. The crossing is due to me not having enough space for the wye, and so, the turnouts will cross each other before getting back with each other. I plan to make most of the wye with Atlas flextrack Is there a simple way to join them?


How about a sketch of what you are trying to achieve?

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> How about a sketch of what you are trying to achieve?
> 
> Frederick


There you go


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

That only requires one crossing. 

Without knowing the dimensions of the space you have I cannot say for sure but I would think that you could use a "stock" crossing.

But I don't work in N so I don't know what sort of selection you have to chose from.

Frederick


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

What turnouts do you wish to use? 

I can create diagrams of using all available Atlas Code 55 crossings and you can determine if one of them will work.

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> That only requires one crossing.
> 
> Without knowing the dimensions of the space you have I cannot say for sure but I would think that you could use a "stock" crossing.
> 
> ...


I am going to play around with some flex track and my switches to figure out what the angle is and then go from there. I might be able to use one, but I am not sure.


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> What turnouts do you wish to use?
> 
> I can create diagrams of using all available Atlas Code 55 crossings and you can determine if one of them will work.
> 
> Frederick


I use Kato Unitrac, number 6 turnouts


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

What are the dimensions of the space the wye has to fit in?

What is the minimum radius for the curves?

Frederick


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

swimmer_spe said:


> I use Kato Unitrac, number 6 turnouts


Do you know the code of the rail used for Unitrac?

I made a wrong assumption based on your mention of Atlas flex track that you were using Atlas Code 55.

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> What are the dimensions of the space the wye has to fit in?
> 
> What is the minimum radius for the curves?
> 
> Frederick





fcwilt said:


> Do you know the code of the rail used for Unitrac?
> 
> I made a wrong assumption based on your mention of Atlas flex track that you were using Atlas Code 55.
> 
> Frederick


I do not remember the code or the minimum radi. I do know that a circle will fit in a 2 foot x 2 foot square.

There is about 2 feet that the 2 L and R turnouts need to fit in. The rest is quite flexible.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

swimmer_spe said:


> There is about 2 feet that the 2 L and R turnouts need to fit in. The rest is quite flexible.


Hmm... That is pretty tight. I don't know if it is doable with stock parts.

Let me try a few things.

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> Hmm... That is pretty tight. I don't know if it is doable with stock parts.
> 
> Let me try a few things.
> 
> Frederick


That issue is why I planned on making my own crossing and using flex track.

Any help is appreciated.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

Hi,

I'm going to need to know what you want as a minimum radius.

Is 11-1/4" acceptable?

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm going to need to know what you want as a minimum radius.
> 
> ...


12 3/8" radius is the least I am going. That way it doesn't limit me to what train cars and engines I can use.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

swimmer_spe said:


> 12 3/8" radius is the least I am going. That way it doesn't limit me to what train cars and engines I can use.


Thanks - I will see what I can do using that.

Frederick


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

OK see attached.

This is all done with Atlas Code 55.

I went with #5 turnouts and a #2.5 wye (equivalent to #5 turnout).

Curves are 12-3/8".

The crossing is a 60 degree unit but I had to cut down the legs to make the crossing 3" by 3".

That should be doable with the actual part.

Frederick


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

fcwilt said:


> OK see attached.
> 
> This is all done with Atlas Code 55.
> 
> ...


Thank you. I will try it and go from there.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*How I built the crossings*



swimmer_spe said:


> The bottom picture is what I need. If any company made adjustable crossings I would buy them in a heart beat. Sadly, making my own seems the only logical step.
> 
> I have soldered in the past, so this is not so hard for me to do.
> 
> Please provide more information to do it.


 The crossings in my photo were built on a piece of PC (Printed Circuit) board big enough to hold the crossings and turnouts needed to form a tight space wye. The PC board base is screwed down to a plywood (top) and 1x3" pine (sides) box. this keeps the PC base, and all the trackwork soldered to it, perfectly flat, during construction. The ties are cut from double-sided PC board. This lets the ties be soldered down to the PC base, and later, the rails to the tops of the ties. I used a high wattage soldering iron to heat the PC base next to each tie, just enough to get that tie soldered down. You need to be careful not to leave the iron in one spot very long. This will overheat the copper cladding and let it bubble up and part from the rest of the board; ruining the PC base. Take your time and lay on tie at a time along the track edge lines which you can mark on the PC base. (scribe or magic marker) Once all the ties were in place, I soldered one, continuous, piece of code 55 rail bent to the outer rail curve of the crossing. Then using a NMRA track gauge, I soldered the inner rail of the same curve. Work from one end only. never try to solder rail from both ends to the middle. It will deform and you will not be able to get it lined up and in correct gauge, When I reached the point where rails from two routes actually needed to cross, I cut the rail with a Dremel and soldered the two intersecting rails together; forming an angle. 
Repeating this process, while checking the gauge frequently through every inch of track, you can eventually form your crossing. When its physically complete, the next step is to cut shallow, insulating, gaps in every single tie. You will also need to cut deeper gaps clear through the rails that cross. This insulates the rails of one route from those of the crossing route. It will also create very short, 90 degree angled (or close) sections of rail at the center of each crossing. This is where things get a little complicated electrically. Each of these angled pieces (crossing frogs) will sometimes be used as part of one(electrical) route and, at other times, part of a different route. Therefore, they need to be electrically switched, like the metal frog in a turnout. Since I was building a wye, I used the contacts of the switch motors to do this electrical switching. When the turnout was set for route A then the crossing frogs would be electrically switched to the polarity needed for route A. When the turnouts were set for route B then the crossing frogs would be switched for that route. If this sounds complicated, that's because it is! I had to spend a lot of time, and aggravation, getting this right on a previous, simpler, crossing. That crossing/turnout arrangement was very similar to the diagram you posted. Referring to my "How I make turnouts" post will give you more info, and some photos, illustrating the tools and techniques needed. 
An easier way to make a crossing would be to overlap the two pieces of flex track you plan to use. Then cut notches for the wheel flanges to pass through. Both pieces of track will need to be temporarily anchored in place before cutting. you could use a plastic base plate with the track pinned, and ultimately glued down to the base. The short, center, rails will be challenging to fasten down. you might want to use a small piece of PC board as a base for the center of the crossing. Then the short rails could be soldered to the PC and gaped and wired the same as an all rail crossing. Alternatively, you could build a plastic, rail-holding center like the Atlas crossings use. If you can jumper feed the short rails for each route; and keep the two routes electrically insulated from each other, no special wiring will be required. This electrical arrangement will be identical to a commercial crossing.
A word on your proposed minimum radius. I first used a minimum radius of 12" thinking that adequate for any N-scale equipment. After all, most of it is advertised as able to operate on 9-3/4" or 11" curves. Then I bought two Kato Mikado steam locomotives. Beautiful looking and smooth running locos. However they derailed a lot on the 12" radius curves. Sometimes they would make it through OK. Other times not. I test ran the Mikados on various radii and ended up going to a 16" Minimum radius. This the locos handled reliably. The lessons I learned were: 1) Don't take a model's advertised minimum radius (11") as gospel. and: 2) Bigger is always better, when it comes to minimum radius. If you can go bigger than 12-3/8" do so.

Good Luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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