Eggesford – going full circle

It has taken a while but I have now sorted the fiddle yard traverser so I can have continuous running. It has been complicated by the need for the traverser to also be a lift up section for access. The original traverser had five running lines and also included a turntable and loco storage area. I have simplified it to two though lines and a line from each side connecting to a cassette which can be removed for storage. When the traverser needs to be raised then it is only a matter of running at the most two trains off to the rest of the layout.

The original didn’t slide very smoothly as it was running on old plastic curtain track. This has been replaced with proper draw runners and is much smoother. I have retained the original indexing system which used a brass bar with notches in it for the various positions and a sprung pulley wheel which ran along it. This can be seen in the next picture.

Power is fed from either the up or down line through a two way centre off switch and to the respective line via a sliding contact switch underneath. This can be seen in the picture below which also shows the whole traverser raised to allow access. When the traverser is lowered alignment is maintained with the use of a split hinge and pin. Note the work desk is in it’s usual state of clutter!!

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