I have plenty of Mamod track. Mostly used, but some new. I had been disappointed with a switch point I added on version one of my Garden Planter Railway. It caused derailments and my larger engines struck the ground throw. Grrrrr
For version two of the planter I decided I would replace all the track with something better. 16 mm gauge track does not come cheap and I thought about other hobby things I could have for the price of track. So I decided to take a hard look at the Mamod switch points (usually called turnouts in North America) to see if I could find a way to be happy with it.
I knew I needed to ditch the ground throws so I ordered new ones made by Peco. It took me an hour or two to figure out what I needed to do to improve the switch points. The video describes what I did. I have run various trains back and forth through them at various speeds with no problems at all. I tried my Mamod Mk 3 and Brunel live steam engines and a couple of battery powered engines pulling trains in both O gauge and 16 mm to the foot scale.
Note that this 32 mm gauge track can’t be used for track power - only live steam or battery powered locomotives. Careful if you bend it. Careful when joining it. It can’t be forced. Sometimes some filing is needed for it to come together more easily. Forcing it can break the track. But… it is far less expensive than its nearest competitor and if you don’t need track power and budget is a concern the savings can translate into some good railcars or line side buildings.
Happy large scale railroading!
Terry