I’m posting this as a new topic in the hopes that should someone ever want to do this in the future, it will be easier to locate the information. This is a VERY LONG post, as I kept thinking of steps that I had left out because they had seemed intuitive to me. Also - I’m not used to considering all the aspects of visually mating a model switch with plastic railroad track. There is no reason to read it unless you want to build a 1:35 switch yourself – or, perhaps, to convince yourself that it is too much work to even consider ;-)
I have already spent many hours on this and there is a lot left to describe, and I need to go to bed (2 AM here), so I shall end this as Part 1. Part 2 to follow.
Here is a photo of a proto U.S. switch with the components identified. Other terms are used in other countries, but you’ll have to handle that connection-conversion yourself.
Unless you're looking to go 110% proto, I have a suggestion that will save you a lot of aggravation and time. I had suggested this in a PM to someone else who wanted to build a switch. If you really want to research it, there are all manner of complexities such as switch numbers and rail weight. I can't guarantee a seamless match to the Trumpeter cast plastic track, but you can certainly get it to look presentable by this approach.
My proposal is to re-purpose a 1:32 model railroad turnout. You need to realize that this will take a fair amount of space (~16” or 40 Cm), and will not be inexpensive. There are dioramas that have used a shorter switch, but it just looks silly and non-prototypical.
"Gauge 1" = 1:32 scale “standard gauge” model trains = Marklin (in Europe). There are also a few smaller manufacturers in Europe, but I don’t know if they make track items. Same gauge, but very different equipment in U.K.
First, you need to decide if you want a left or right turnout (the model railroading name for switch – used so there is no confusion with electrical switches). Your photo is of a left turnout, as the track on the right remains straight through the switch. The turning track is known as the divergent, and less important, route. Note that both tracks are straight through the road crossing and then turn sharply, so I’m guessing these are both industrial spurs – clearly not a mainline. FYI – there is a special switch type known as a “wye”, where both tracks are curved. This is very rarely seen on the prototype, but often used in model railroading for space-saving reasons.
You will also need to decide what size switch you want – see the images below. The shorter one needs less space, but to my eyes looks quite toy-like. The longer one is still very sharp for a prototype railroad, but approaches an acceptably realistic appearance. Note that these Marklin numbers are for their current versions – I don’t know the numbers for the older ones. The longer one is also much closer to what is shown in your photo.
Marklin 5955 – sharp left turnout, 600mm radius, 300mm length
Marklin 5977 – medium right turnout, 10200mm radius, 390mm length
A question – why do you want the switch? Do you wish a siding to serve some industry that you’ll model on the diorama?
Once you have decided what you want, look on eBay (Germany - and maybe Austria and Netherlands are most likely) for a used Marklin Gauge 1 (spur 1 auf Deutsche). The reason you want the Marklin turnout is only for the metal rails - there is no other way to do this. DO NOT look at HO or spur 0 or "G". You WILL NOT be able to make a switch from any plastic track that you have. Trust me on this – I am not an expert, but have enough experience to know it will not work. Of course, if you want to spend a lot more time than this will take, you could learn how to make your own turnouts starting with only rail.
Since you only want the visual presence of the rails, you have no interest in any operational considerations. Because of this, you can / should wait for one of “poor” quality for a lower price. Older versions will be more reasonably priced.
You can cut the rails (sawing might be easier for you) at the ends on the Marklin turnout to make it slightly shorter if you need to, so long as you leave the basic operational structure. However, if you have the space on your dio, it would be more realistic to leave them as they are.
Do not do anything else with the turnout until you’ve built your dio base and measured-marked the future location for the switch - using the Marklin one as a template, while realizing that the rails will be 4mm more narrowly spaced in 1:35 scale-gauge. I strongly recommend installing the switch before any of the plastic track that will connect to it. Using pencil, draw straight and curved lines roughly corresponding to the ends of the Marklin ties, and then reduce this by 2mm on each side and draw a heavier line. Compare these lines at the ends of the switch to the length of the Trumpeter ties. Adjust the lines at the ends of the switch to match the Trumpeter tie length if necessary.
The next activity is making the new ties. Measure the Trumpeter ones (or whatever 1:35 plastic track you’re using – length, width, and thickness. Since they are set in a plastic “trac-bed”, you can only measure the exposed height, but you should record this (the maximum exposed height of the ties). However, what is more important is to measure the distance from the bottom of the “track” to the top of the ties – this will be needed when you mount the switch on the diorama base. It would also be good to compare the Marklin and Trumpeter rail heights – I hop they are close. Also note the spacing of the Trumpeter ties to determine where you’ll need to place them. Although I said to measure the Trumpeter ties, looking at the photos of the Marklin switches it should be obvious that most of them will need to be much longer.
I would suggest balsa or basswood for your ties, and it may even come in a dimension that already matches the Trumpeter profile, otherwise you will need to sand, etc. Now we need to consider the “exposed height” that I mentioned above. Since the “railhead height” of the installed switch will need to match that of the Trumpeter track, you need to determine an appropriate tie height that will achieve this, taking the actual rail height and “roadbed” height into consideration. I would measure and subtract out the rail height first (assuming that it is close to that of the Trumpeter rail), then select a tie height somewhat greater than the “exposed height”, and use this to determine the necessary roadbed height for the switch.
After sizing your stock to match that of Trumpeter, cut all the ties that you will need based on your drawing and calculations. Look at photos of proto switches (preferably not buried under snow ;-) to see how real railroads handle “switch ties”. They tend to cut them to set standard lengths, instead of each one custom cut for that precise location in the switch.
Above is a photo illustrating this. One major point – you may notice that the number of ties used for this switch may be as much as 10 times as many as are on the Marklin turnout. This goes back to my earlier suggestion that prototype switches are not nearly as sharp as model turnouts. Although, this is main line trackage, as compared to the industrial trackage in your photo.
Paint/stain the wood to match the finishing on the Trumpeter ties. Theoretically the Trumpeter track is not installed yet, but by weathering it first you can create your switch ties to match it.
Above is a custom-built 1:32 turnout that I recently purchased. I could have bought it with ties installed (“sleepers” to the British – not sure what term you use on the Continent). Since I didn’t, the fellow who made it has soldered four temporary “spacers” over all the rails to keep them in approximate gauge – the one on the left has broken off the bottom rail. Note that I will need to use special tools (“track gauges”) to make sure the gauge is precise when I mount this to a board. Since you will not actually be running trains over yours, there is no need to be so accurate, as long as it looks like it belongs with the Trumpeter track.
I’m showing you this as I would suggest doing the same on the Marklin Gauge 1 turnout that you buy. However, if you do this you will need to be careful with the soldering iron, or better yet do not place any of these near the plastic frog and guard rails. You’re going to be changing the gauge to 1:35, but this will keep everything from disassembling as a result of the next step. That is cutting all of the plastic ties and “spikes” (the device that actually holds the rail to the ties) away from the rails, as they’re what are setting the rail at 1:32 gauge (45 mm).
Note that the Marklin turnout has a plastic frog and guard rails, while the custom turnout is all metal. This has operational considerations on model railroads, but is only an appearance issue for this project. However, if you can paint the Trumpeter track to look realistic, then you should be able to do that here as well.
Another note before you start cutting the plastic ties off. There is a piece between two ties at the narrow end of the turnout that is used to move the “points”. I know this in the model world as a “throw-bar”, but you will encounter other terms. The photo of a proto switch identifies it as a “switch rod”. While you will remove the Marklin throw device that is attached to two ties by what appears to be Phillips-head screws, you want to retain as much of the actual throw-bar as possible. It is also important that you be careful not to break the connection between the throw-bar and the rails while you remove the plastic ties. I would suggest leaving these three ties until last.
One final item before you cut the plastic ties off. This regards the frog. I don’t have, nor have I ever seen the actual Marklin switch, so I’m going to make a general suggestion, but you’ll need to determine how to implement it. You want to make sure that the plastic frog remains connected to the metal rails around it. The guard rails are not so important, and they actually look rather ugly in the photos of the Marklin turnout. In fact, if you buy the less sharp turnout and get the short section of track shown in the photo, I would use those pieces of rail to make new guard rails from. The ends of these are bent toward the middle of the track – look at proto photos.
OK – time to cut the plastic ties off, keeping all of the above in mind.
Before you can glue your painted ties down, we have another consideration. As mentioned earlier, we need the same rail-head height (tops of the rails) on our converted switch as on the Trumpeter plastic track. You will need some thickness of “roadbed” base under the turnout, that combined with your tie height and the Marklin rail height will achieve this.
There is yet another element in the mix. A major difference between U.S. and European railroads, is that “tie-plates” are used in Europe. This is a cast steel plate that sits on the tie and in turn holds the rail. I believe that in the U.K. these are appropriately called “chairs”. Since I don’t have Trumpeter track, I can’t be certain of just what they use from online photos. However, Armor35 has resin castings for these, which should be similar.
Although this photo says Railway Track, I believe that it is just details – specifically, the tie-pates and rail-plates, which are used to join sections of rail. I think there might have been a somewhat recent review of this on Armorama. One other option is to look for these, perhaps intended for Marklin rail, in local (to your country) model railway shops. I mention this here as it will have a small impact on the final rail-head height.
A wide piece of balsa or basswood can serve as your track-bed riser. Glue this to your dio baseboard and then mark the tie locations, before actually gluing them on. You might want to lay them all out in position first to verify everything, before you actually start gluing.
To be continued in Part 2 – after the glue dries ;-)
