Points, sprung and powered

The brass wires seen here are soldered into holes drilled in the bases of the points. The wires not only serve as pivots, but also apply spring tension to keep the points pressed against the microswitch lever. The spring wires are anchored into the turnout substrate by simply melting the ends into the styrene. Wires soldered to the springs ensure that the point rails receive current under all circumstances. The other wires seen here supply power to other parts of the turnout—since there are no rail joiners, every piece of rail must be powered individually.

As an aside, I have this funny habit of dating most of my projects. I don't know why I do it, but it is a kind of "nice to know" thing once in a while.

Image specs: This image was captured with a Canon 20D digital SLR.

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