I moved next to laying track. The PM&TCo. is my first model railroad to use handlaid track so I took some time to practice building switches before working on the module. I found it very enjoyable and not that difficult; just take your time and make sure everything is the right gauge.

If you are interested in handlaying track, I strongly suggest Kalmbach’s new book on track “Trackwork and Lineside Detail for Your Model Railroad”. Tony Koester’s chapter on building switches is the best one I’ve come across. Another good resource is Rick Fortin’s articles in the May and June 1998 issues of Railroad Model Craftman.

I pretty much followed Tony’s methods. One area I was not too happy with was using diluted white glue to glue the ballast down. I have a few spots where I got some white residue on the ballast. Next time I will probably try something different, like Woodland Scenics dry ballast glue which you mix with the ballast and then wet.

I cut my own throw bars from a 1mm thickness printed circuit board. I followed suggestions from the On3 e-mail group and used Radio Shack’s silver solder to solder the point rails to the throw bar.