After scratching my head for a while over the misalignment here at the north switch of the siding, I decided to pull a few more ties off and smooth it all out.
With the aid of a wooden spline and my darling wife, who braved basement and sore back, we got a new centreline marked for the “straight” route.
Then I made sure all the tie strips would fit, and spent a few minutes admiring the much-improved alignment by siting down the track.
Next, I took the trusty template from Proto87.com and marked the centreline and intersection point for the diverging route. Anyone ca tell you this is not the right way to lay out a curved turnout, but the curvature here is sufficiently broad that I think I can get away with it.
The ties went back on, and this time, I cut the shims for the PC board ties. In the other turnouts, I used either wood or card for these shims, thinking that plastic might melt. Time will tell, but both plastic and card had their own challenges.
Finally, it was time to glue down the wooden ties. I marked the centre of about every sixth tie or so, and used these marks to align with the centrelines on the roadbed.
More sighting along the track and ties ensued, and I nudged ties around in the wet PVA until I was happy that there didn’t appear to be any kinks.
Well, no kinks, except that one in the ties in the foreground. Perhaps I should pull them back all the way to the point of the milling company spur, but here they’re buried in a grade crossing anyway. The rail is where I want it, and he new ties align better with the rail.
Pembroke:87 