How I operate some of my points with wire in tube rodding

I had to replace the raised timber baseboard at Beeston Market as some of the boards had rotted (see How I replaced the baseboard at Beeston Market station) and while relaying the track, I decided that it would provide me with an opportunity to find a way of operating the points at the back of the layout remotely. I had tried it previously with Bowden (bike brake) cable (see Progress Report 82), but it proved unreliable as, eventually, dampness caused the cables to rust. Also, squirming around underneath the baseboard to install and maintain it wasn't easy or comfortable. So, with new baseboards and a revised track layout I started thinking of an alternative method for controlling the hard-to-reach points.

Previously, I had successfully used galvanised fencing wire to control the points leading to the storage sidings in the lean-to (see Operating turnouts with simple point rodding) and so, having plenty of wire available, I decided to explore using this to operate the points at Beeston Market.

Initially, I simply had lengths of wire running from the edge of the baseboard to the points with staples to guide them.

 While this worked well and was simple to install, I realised that I would need to find a way of protecting the wires when I added ballast to the track. After trying to think up ways of creating covers for the wires, I decided that it would be far simpler to have the wires running through tubes. A quick search on eBay resulted in the purchase of ten metres of 3mm internal diameter PVC tubing.

It would mean removing the first set of wires I'd installed, but that was a relatively easy job. So with plenty of wire and tubing to hand, I set to work.

 Firstly, I cut a length of tubing which would stretch from the edge of the baseboard to the relevant point. Where it passed under the platform, a slot was made in the underside of the platform. Similarly, some of the sleepers of intervening points needed to be slotted to allow the tubing to pass beneath.

 A length of the galvanised fencing wire was then cut with sufficient extra to allow one end to be bent upwards to slot into the end of the point's tie bar and for the other end to be bent into a loop. The tie-bar end of the wire was flattened slightly with a hammer to allow it to pass through the rectangular hole easily.

 The other end of the wire was bent around into a loop.

By the way, before the wire was threaded into the tubing, some 3in1 oil was squirted into the tube. As can be seen, galvanised staples were tapped over the tubing at intervals to hold it in place, making sure they didn't pinch the tubing to stop the wire from moving freely.

 All the points at the furthermost side of the layout have now been equipped with rodding, thereby making life a lot easier during running sessions. The next stage will be ballasting.