I
have gotten hooked on building my own track sections on
the workbench, then taking them to the layout. There is a
tremendous sense of accomplishment that accompanies
a train rolling over a double-slip switch that you have built,
piece-by-piece, with your own hands.
What got me into this aspect of the hobby we all love is a com-
puter program called Templot2. This program allows you to cre-
ate very complex track patterns and print full-size templates on
which to build your track. It is an extremely powerful and as a
Basic soldering skill
and some PC ties is
all it takes ...
Scratchbuilding a
Rail Bumper
– Mark Conradt
Model Photos by the author
Scratchbuilding a Code 83 Rail Bumper - 1
result, a programwith a steep learning curve. But the results are
worth the effort, as they are nothing short of spectacular. If you
are at all interested in handlaid track, check it out at
By the way, the program is free.
The Templot website and user forum are administered by Martin
Wynne in the U.K. Martin is a great guy who seemingly has de-
voted his life to this program, and is always monitoring the forum
to eagerly answer questions and add to the user experience. Be
forewarned, however, that almost everything on the website,
forum, and program is in U.K. terminology. For instance, a “tie” is
called a
“timber.” Don’t let that scare you off. I am working with
HO Code 83 rail, and I have been able to build trackwork that
works flawlessly with U.S. rolling stock.
After making all the trackwork for my small switching layout, I
needed rail bumpers for the ends of all the sidings. I did a lot of
research and have collected pictures of a wide variety of scratch-
built rail bumpers. I wanted to use components I had on-hand for
my bumpers, i.e., tie and rail material only.
So, I started drawing and fiddling, and after some trial and error,
I came up with a pretty simple to build and good looking design
that even looks like it could almost be prototypical. I have built a
half-dozen of these, and here are the steps I use.
Steps on following pages ...
MRH-Jun 2013
