Handlaying a Gauntlet Track - 2nd attempt

My previous attempt to scratchbuild the third and last remaining piece of track for my NMRA civil certification started off with tremendous ambition, but quickly fizzled because I was attempting too much (sharp curves) built to a standard (NMRA specifications) and planned to run trains on it that were not to NMRA code. It is a common malady in G scale, which consists of various ratios and different standards with the only universal one being to have the trains stay on the track. Gauge, back-to-back wheel spacing, rail height, and frog depth are all over the map.

Attempt / Failure #2

Still, I wanted to give the in-street gauntlet track the old college try so I soldered up another frog point assembly and then attempted to make it work. Because I was now using cheaper aluminum rail, I couldn't solder to it so that made my previous four-rail frog assembly impossible. And try as I might, I couldn't get everything to line up and operate smoothly, so I abandoned the project for eight months. Recently, though, I have wanted to get it finished so I tried again to make it work. I even spiked up all the rails necessary, including guard rails. But, it just didn't work well. Or well enough. So, I eventually pulled out all the spikes and started over with plan C.

Gauntlet Track at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
(image from Wikipedia)

Instead of focusing on building a gauntlet track with frogs to allow the train track to cross over one another, I decided to build one with point rails that allow the tracks to run parallel to each other. Making points wasn't very challenging in G scale with a belt sander, but I want to get my certification. Sometimes the diverging track moves away from a station platform (like shown in the picture at right) to provide greater clearance for oversize freight cars. Other times, the mainline is straight and the diverging track breaks away to connect to a platform that the mainline couldn't normally reach (imagine if the station was on the left instead in the picture shown). In fact, if you search online for "Gauntlet track" images you will find lots of different examples for various situations which demonstrate the ingenuity of civil engineers.

I reused the same wooden base as my previous two attempts, and by now it was looking pretty gnarly with all of the spike holes and ink markings. But, it reminded me to press on. I had some shorter ties left over from the first two track pieces, and a couple more sticks of 3/8" square dowel chopped up led to the longer ties. I didn't really have a good idea how long to make them as I wasn't sure how much of an overlap the gauntlet part would be, so I winged it. Thankfully, the length turned out to be just perfect. I didn't bother to sand the tops as I liked the rustic look, though the ties were clearly warped a bit in places. Were this HO scale, sanding and leveling the ties would have been mandatory.

Then, out came the stain and the plain wooden blocks turned into fresh creosoted ties. I was using smaller rail (code 250 vs 332) and it was softer (aluminum vs. brass), and it was also by now bent, kinked, and warped, but I wanted the final gauntlet track to look nice. So, I measured where I wanted the rails to fall on the ties and scribed a line using a metal straight edge. If I spiked the first rail to this line, it would perfectly straighten out the wavy rail. I used some smaller spikes that a friend gave me while cleaning up his father's house. They were delicate looking but perfect for this application. I spiked every 10th tie to start, then filled in the gaps. They went into the soft wood easily... all 266 of them!

I laid the long, straight rail first. Before I spiked it I used my belt sander to notch the inside of the rail near where the points would nestle in. I used my #6 turnout as a guide for how long to make the notch. Then, I did the long outside curved rail the same way. I only spiked the curved rail by the entrance to the switch as I still didn't know how much I wanted to curve it. I then made the two point rails and everything was spiked down. It was a bit of "spike this rail here first, then that rail next, then bend this rail and spike it third, etc." I didn't have instructions to follow, but I thought through everything and it came out fine. Again, I scribed the ties where I wanted the rail to go to make sure it was perfectly straight.

As it turns out, I nearly painted myself into a corner. If I had made the diverging gauntlet track any farther out from the main (straight) track, the two inner rails would have been nearly on top of one another. But, I kept the curve smooth and graceful and it all worked perfectly. I couldn't solder tabs to the bottom of the point rails to connect them to the throw bar, so instead I drilled clearance holes in the thin base of the rail for 2-56 screws will pass through. I angled the holes slightly, as there wasn't much base alone to drill into. They are delicate but will be fine for a demonstration switch.

rail bits from previous gauntlet track attempts!

I now just have to fabricate a throwbar and wire it up. The throwbar has led to another problem, but thinking it through should lead to a solution. All in all, once I had time to regroup on the project, it took only about 3 hours to cut the ties, glue them down, stain them, mark and grind the rail, and spike it all down. I spread it out over about 10 days though, working here and there at a leisurely pace. I also had something on the television in the background...  usually low budget Sherlock Holmes movies or Scooby Doo cartoons.

Stay tuned for the thrilling finale!