Scalefour Forum

Hi,

I've been following Robin Whittle's blog on RMWeb in which he mentions using Brian Morgan TOUs (as available from the stores) on Barrow Road. Pardon my ignorance but are these suitable for non-GWR pointwork? I assume those for B and C switches may be but confirmation would be useful.

More importantly, has anyone (apart from Brian and Robin!) used these on a layout and would they be a good solution to point operation on a layout that includes several tandem points?

Any advice gratefully received while I try to resist the spending itch . . .

Cheers,

David C

I don't think Robin is building any GWR pointwork (its an LMS shed anyway) so i'd assume they do work on REA switches. He also has a tandem on his layout.

I was going to wait for Robin to get one working before I gave them a go, hopefully he can do all the work interpreting the instructions too that way .

The design does get around the issue with the Exactoscale design. On that there is a long way from the operating bar to the switch rails and the plastic tends to be a bit too flexible.

As the person that drew the templot plan for Barrow Road I can confirm that they are all REA turnouts. There is indeed a tandem tunout as well as a double slip, 2 single slips and a 3 way. The latter may be a bit of a challenge with the TOUs.

I saw the first assembled TOU today on a left hand B6 and it looked very good. There were a couple of things that we agreed could be improved. One of these includes making a revised drilling jig for the tufnol slider holes with a 1mm wider spacing than the etched drilling jig provided. Perhaps Robin will post a picture to explain.

On the strength of what we saw we also decided to adopt these TOUs for the Brinkley extension.

Cheers....Morgan

I have just spotted this thread. The turnouts I am using on Barrow Road are indeed Brian Morgan units specifically the DN1450U B, C switch for P4. They are £7 each from the stores.

Morgan mentions a few issues with the units which are minor ones and do not detract from the excellent design of the unit.

The instructions recommend the use of an 8BA bolt and nut to attach the crank arm. I have decided to use a nyloc here and have changed to a metric equivalent M2.5 bolt with nyloc as I was unable to source 8BA nylocs.
The kit provides a piece of tufnol approx 60mm x 50mm for the switch operating bar which has to be cut 5mm x 30mm. The kit provides a fold up etched jig which grips the tufnol strip and has holes 16.5mm apart for drilling the holes for the droppers. As Morgan mentioned this spacing is, in our view, too narrow and should be 17.5mm for P4. On using the kit jig the clearance between the switch and stock rails was noticably too large.

Morgan has kindly produced a new drilling jig for me with the 17.5mm spacing.

One further issue for me centres around the width of the tufnol operating bar. The kit jig accepts a piece of tufnol 4.92mm wide and Brian suggests you thin this to around 4.5mm stating that it must be a slack fit in the channel. Now I have measured the channel width at 5.2mm and consider a 0.7mm difference to be too slack. Accordingly I have not bothered to further thin the tufnol.
The units still work well with the wider tufnol operating bar.

I am aware this post could do with a few photos to make the above clearer so I will add some shortly.

Here are the missing photos from my previous post.

Robin and Morgan

With two years' more experience are you still as happy with the Brian Morgan TOUs? Anything you'd do differently now? We're about to start track laying on Little Mill Junction and are seriously considering these units.

Rod

Interestingly I saw these TOUs referenced in the MRJ 268 article for Bristol Barrow Road.

Not having been aware of these before I thought they would provide an excellent discrete solution rather than an unsightly hole in the baseboard.

A quick web search led me to this forum post; most helpful.

Given the intervening years since this thread was running are there useful experiences that can be shared? I ask as I'm considering building a layout (against a Templot design with REA switches) and thought these might warrant careful consideration.

Steve

Hi Steve,

These TOUs do require a 'T' shape slot to be cut in your baseboard to accommodate the tufnol operating arm and the crank lever. I made up a jig when fitting the units to Barrow Road - I have the measurements I used somewhere. The brass base plate covers the hole.
The single units operate well but if you are planning to make up a single or double slip please contact me.

Robin

The double slip poses a number of problems not found with the standard TOU or the single slip.
The double slip has a pair of crank arms at each end as designed. The original instructions - I don't know if Brian amended them - suggest operating the double slip using the two cranks, one at each end, at each side of the unit. This makes no sense. Both the double slips on Barrow Road are operated at each end by a set of additional levers which I mounted on a wooden base.

Double Slip - Brian's original instructions suggest operation using the two levers along each side.


My operation is using cranks at each end.


Note the two levers indicated and the size of the cut out in the board to accommodate them.
The 3mm mdf board marked LT43b is the operating unit containing a number of additional levers positioned so that both the indicated cranked levers operate at the same time to throw one end of the double slip. Note that the lever directly linked to the cobalt point motor is adjustable. All these items are, or should be available from the stores. Also note the brass wire linking the levers on the mdf board are in two pieces linked by a piece of interference fit brass tube which allows adjustment before soldering up in their final position.


One further problem I found relates to the brass mounting plate. On the D's this is in three parts as opposed to two on the others. This means the n/s wires which connect the two centre blades both go through holes on this plate. I had to enlarge the two oval holes in this plate as I found one touched the plate and one extreme of movement which caused a short.


I modified another D's that I built for Brinkley the group layout. The mod provides direct drive to the tufnol slide which allowed me to remove all the cranks.
I'll try and get a photo of this tomorrow.

The two double slips on my Barrow Road layout work fine, but in retrospect I think the number of cranks and levers required to operate the double slip is a bit over the top and causes problems getting the unit to work well.

Theres a lot of " gubbins " under that board

dave

Here are a couple of photos of the modified double slip as used on Brinkley the Glevum Group layout. This layout uses Lemaco motors which gave additional problems driving the Double slip. As the unit was installed on the layout I modified it by removing the cranked levers and substituting a one piece length of tufnol for the two on the original version. This length of tufnol was cut longer to fit an outboard screw with a length of tube soldered over the thread to give a fixing point for the 'Z' length of brass rod which links the motor to the turnout.





This does away with most of the 'gubbins'

They're all beautifully made but surely, none of the blades are opening far enough. My switch drawing gives 4 1/4" (1.4mm) opening but this measured from a straight stock rail. I don't have drgs of switches with joggled stock rails but the opening of a blade wrt the gauge face must be the same or a wheel will hit the end. On the photos the opening is about half a rail thickness wrt the gauge before the joggle which is barely the checkrail gap. This must lead to trouble. A 1.4 drill held horizontally along the railhead before the joggle should slide in behind the blade. Perhaps Jeremy's initial drilling position was correct after all.

DaveB

Hi Dave,

You are correct the gap on the blades on this double slip are in need of adjustment and are on my list. This was my first double slip and as it has only recently been wired tests have revealed 0-6-0s negotiate without any problems but longer wheel base engines with pony trucks tend to foul on the blade. Well spotted.

Robin

barrowroad wrote:Hi Steve,

These TOUs do require a 'T' shape slot to be cut in your baseboard to accommodate the tufnol operating arm and the crank lever. I made up a jig when fitting the units to Barrow Road - I have the measurements I used somewhere. The brass base plate covers the hole.
The single units operate well but if you are planning to make up a single or double slip please contact me.

Robin

Thanks Robin.

The subsequent discussion regarding the double slip is interesting and importantly highlights the complexity of setting up such units. This is something that will require my careful consideration when deciding whether to use the TOUs in such circumstances.

An excellent thread.

Steve