I recalled now, that these had all failed, for no apparent reason, shortly after I had installed the turnouts some years ago. I have had no further problems with other Peco turnouts and the faulty ones may have been an early version but "Could they be fixed?" . Hmmmm. Back to the parts box, where I located some long sleepers that had been cut from a section of printed circuit board (similar to what the do-it-yourself fraternity use but with a fibre glass substrate rather than the phenolic board that seems to be more common). With a little drilling, grinding and soldering I reckoned these would do. This is what I did.

First, dismantle the broken turnout by prying off the over-centre-spring retaining box. Retain the clip, the box and the spring. Boing! Watch where that spring goes. Remove the point blades from the turnout and, very carefully, pull off the broken tie bar (rod). Don't bend the blades or the two 'lugs' that were enclosed in the tie bar moulding. Clean up the blades and their mating surfaces on the outside running rails. Carefully check that the extension 'lugs' on the blades are not bent out of square. Now, using rosin core solder and a 25/35 Watt soldering iron, tin the bottom surfaces and extension lugs on the point blades. Wipe off any excess solder with a damp sponge. Don't use your finger tip to do this or you will certainly cut it on one of the extension lugs . (The voice of experience here).

Now lets look at that printed-circuit sleeper. Obviously the length and the holes in it have to match those in the original, plastic, tie bar. (This repair should work for any gauge). I was lucky in that the tie bars I had were over length and had a fibre glass base but this is not critical. Firstly, as you did for the point blades, tin the copper surface of the tie bar and clean off the excess solder with a sponge. I know there is now nothing to cut your finger tip on but you will probably burn yourself instead. O.K. so far? Now, a little marking out and drilling. Using a sample as a guide, mark out the overall length required and scribe a line. Mark out where the two, large, outer holes (for the point motor pin) should be and drill them. I used a 1/16" . Measure and mark out the centre point between these two holes and drill a very small hole for the over-centre spring. In N gauge I used a # 78 drill. If you use a pin vice to hold the drill you should have no trouble. Now comes the fiddly bit.

Turn over the broken tie rod and examine the underside and you will see that a portion of it has been cut out, or rebated, to about half its thickness, to accommodate the travel of the over-centre spring. If you have a working turnout you can see this action quite clearly. You have to duplicate this on the printed-circuit tie bar so that the spring can travel freely. Note particularly that this cut-out tapers away from the # 78 hole PAST the centre line of the tie bar. I used a DREMEL motor tool with a milling type burr to cut away the excess material. Be careful doing this and wear goggles. If you have a drill press you can set the tool up in this and mill the unwanted material out. Don't worry overmuch about neatness. The fibre glass substrate is quite strong hence the preference.

Right. Time to put it all together but first you have to make a couple of cuts in the now tinned copper surface of the tie bar otherwise you will have a short circuit across the two running rails. Put the point blades back into the turnout and place the tie bar underneath them. A little examination will show you how much of the solder surface is to remain left and right of the # 78 hole. But, before you cut to size consider one more thing. On the Peco turnouts, current is transferred from the running rails to the point blades at the point where the blades press against the running rails and, unless you are using auxiliary cont acts to supplement this some time temperamental 'switch' constant cleaning is your lot. Right? So, if you leave about 3 mm or so of tinned surface projecting either side of where you are going to solder the point blades this will make an effective switch as the tinned surface will rub on the bottom of the running rails when the point blades are moved from side to side. A bonus!

Before we move onto the soldering there are two more observations you should make. Look carefully at the last plastic 'sleeper' that supports the point blades. It has a raised portion on it that acts as a low friction 'rubbing plate' to help stop the blades binding when they move. (Canny people that crew at Peco). When we solder our point blades to the PC tie bar we don't want transferred heat to melt this 'rubbing plate' or all our work will be in vain. A piece of writing paper, cut to fit between the running rails, should be placed under the blades and, provided you don't overdo the soldering, will make a good enough insulator to prevent damage. The second point to watch is a little moulded 'dimple' which is under the over-centre-spring retaining box. The spring has to sit against this 'dimple' and it is also easy to melt with the soldering iron. Just be conscious of it and don't leave the iron around too long.

Crunch time. Now we are ready to tie it all together. Cut a strip of 15 thou paper card to the same width as the PC tie bar and place the tie bar on it. This will raise the tie bar off the work bench and press it firmly against the underside of the point blades and thus make the soldering process easier. Place the turnout over the tie bar and reinsert the straight point blade into the turnout so that it is against the running rail. Line up the point blade extension lug onto the tie bar. Adjust the position of the tie bar and make sure that it is square in relation to the turnout and, using a hot, tinned, soldering iron, press firmly onto the extension lug for about 3 to 4 seconds. Don't over do it. Don't add solder. Don't melt the plastic and, now, the blade should be firmly soldered to the tie bar. Pheww. Check for alignment and damage and if all is O.K. insert the curved blade into the turnout. Move the tie bar so that the straight blade clears the running rail by the correct amount (check against a working sample). Do this by eye. If you try to use a rule you will need three hands and will muck it up. Taking care, as above, solder the curved blade into place and you are nearly done. Remove the piece of insulating paper fro m between the running lines. (didn't forget it did you?) and carefully examine things for damage, freedom of movement etc. Correct as necessary (if possible). The action will be a little stiff but this is O.K. Reinstall the over-centre spring, the spring cover box and its restraining clip and check again. Make sure the toggle toggles and that the point blades press against the running rails. So long as you haven't melted any of the plastic bits the assembly process is very forgiving and if one of the blades is a bit 'out' you can have another go.