Right o' Way rail and switch parts

ROW is out of business.

Thank you for the information about Right o' Way.

Actually, Right O' Way is still in business.  Contact Jay Criswell (a forum member) about the current address.  He is the current owner / operator of the business.

criswell @ pacbell . net

From his classified ad in The O Scale Resource, http://right-o-way.us/  will get you to their Website.

Without willfully trying to break the rules of this forum, yes, Right-O'-Way is still in business.  I plan on purchasing a ad in OGR but I simply can't afford it yet.  Way too much money being spent trying to get everything up and running along with building a website.

I hope this is allowed, for now, because my intentions are honorable, here is a link to the new website.  Please note it's a work in progress and isn't fully functional.  We're adding photos of all the parts and hope to allow folks to add their items to a "Cart" and "Checkout" along with using PayPal or a check.

http://www.right-o-way.us./

Jay Criswell

I also forgot to mention, the email address shown on the website isn't coming directly to me.  Right now it's going to the developer and he forwards them to me.  We hope to have that issue resolved withing a day, or two.  He's out of town right now but we plan on dealing with it upon his return (today or tomorrow).

Sorry for the confusion,

Jay

I recently ordered from Jay, turn around was very brisk and the order was a bit "custom", with modified quantities.  Order from Jay now - - - you will get great service !  

Again, thank you for the additional information and new address. 

I'm thankful that Jay is continuing to provide the Right-O-Way product line.  I've installed a very large number of turnouts on the railroad using ROW castings.  They are time and money savers - and the look can't be beat.

I stand (very happily) corrected.  Great to have ROW (back) in business!!!!!

B Smith posted:

I tried recently to place an order by mail with Right o' Way at the Chowchilla, CA address that the late Mr. Cross used for many years (and which still appears in the O Scale Directory), but the letter was returned as undeliverable. Can anyone tell me if Right o' Way is still in business and, if so, at what address and phone number?

 

Don't know if you ever got the correct answer but ROW is back in business. The name and contact info was in OST mag a few issues back.

see my reply above

Recently ordered some parts from Jay and I'll also chime in and say he was very quick getting the order to me, and good stuff to boot!!!

I've already built my first 2-rail #6 turnout, never thought I'd do it but it wasn't as hard as i thought, especially with the help Jay and several others gave me.

Now I only have 18 more to go!!!

Bob Delbridge posted:

Recently ordered some parts from Jay and I'll also chime in and say he was very quick getting the order to me, and good stuff to boot!!!

I've already built my first 2-rail #6 turnout, never thought I'd do it but it wasn't as hard as i thought, especially with the help Jay and several others gave me.

Now I only have 18 more to go!!!

Congratulations on your first turnout build, the rest will get even easier.  

Thanks Chris!!!

I've drawn up plans for a new 2-rail layout taking up the entire upstairs space.  If things go as planned I should start tearing down the old layout soon.

Here's the new one, 12x30:

Good for you Bob...long live 2Rail, and custom built turnouts. All this activity will breathe new energy into your Model Railroading activities...

Bob

I can confirm excellent service & communication from Jay. Bringing R-o-W into the 21st Century with on-line ordering & Paypal is a great bonus, especially for those of us across 'The Pond'.

You have no idea the pleasure it gives me to receive positive feedback.  Thank you.  Hopefully, I'll get to meet a bunch of you at the March Meet in Chicago.  First time for me.

O Scale West in May also.

Jay

I too have to say I'm thrilled that Jay has assume the reins for Right-O-Way.  As with Lou, Jay is a joy to deal with.  I recently got one of his new products, a bottom retainer plate for Atlas SW trucks that narrows up the the mounting of the side frames.  They are a snap to install and really improve the look of the Switcher.  The website is now mostly working and you can use PayPal

Looks like a great plan Bob, can't wait to see your progress.   I know all about tearing out the old layout.....was that a job....

Here's the two #6 turnouts I've made so far:

The RH uses a frog from Jay while the LH is one I made using code 148 rail, also from Jay.

I'm still using hi-rail wheels and they hit the bottom of Jay's frog, so I thought I'd try to make that to see if the wheels hit, they don't.  So now I can use both hi-rail and 2-rail wheels.  I'll probably keep the hi-rail wheels on my engines (too costly to change) and change out the wheels on my rolling stock to 2-rail.

I wish I could put these 2 turnouts in a loop to really test them out.  I've managed to put a piece of ME flextrack on both ends to see if there was any issues and so far they work fine.

Hey those came out very nice, great job!  I like the frog you made, it's great to see some more hand laid turnouts being built....it takes time but it's very satisfying to create with your own hands. 

Thanks Chris!

I looked at a lot of online stuff, read some books and PDFs, and figured out it's like everything else in this hobby, taking the first step is the hardest part.

It takes time to put in all the spikes, but once the first rail goes down the rest falls in line.  Preparation is the key, making sure each piece of rail is cut, beveled, trimmed, before it gets spiked (don't ask how I found that out!).  The templates showing where to put things makes it easy.  Placing the frog point in the precise location is a must, but it's not hard to determine.

All I used was my Dremel/bits, a file, spike pliers, gauge, straight edge, ruler, soldering iron for the frog points and throw bar, and head worn magnifier.  I looked at the tools some places offer to make these easier, but add them up and you're spending several hundred $$$ on specialty tools for a single use.  Sure I have 17 more to do, but they'll get easier, the 2nd was easier than the 1st and looks/performs much better IMO.

Commercial turnouts are anywhere from $75 up, I guesstimated 1 of these homemade turnouts cost under $25, especially if you make the frog from rail like I did on the 2nd one.

A bit over 2 lengths of rail, bag of ties, spikes, and other bits (like brass for the throw bar) most modelers will have around their workbench.

The reasons I did this was:

1) Wanted a longer mainline to run my passenger trains, hopefully we'll see the GGD Silver Meteor in the not to distant future.

2) Wanted to see if my engines and rolling stock with hi-rail wheels would navigate thru 2-rail turnouts and track before I tore down my old layout and started expanding in 2-rail. I'm 95% sure they will.  Remember, I'm running off battery power remote control, non-insulated wheels don't affect that.  I love not having any wiring!!!

3) Wanted a yard to store freight cars.

In order to do this I'm in the process of clearing out 2/3 of the upstairs space.  Once done then I can proceed with the new layout.

Oh I completely agree Bob, the first step is the hardest but as you said once you get started it just starts to flow and get easier as you go.  You'll figure out your own way of doing it, method or tricks ect that work for you and it will really fly.  I always built off the frog, everything would just fall in to place for me that way, then I just built the rest of the turnout from there.  And as for the cost, I would agree the savings are huge especially if you have a bunch of turnouts...the process goes much quicker than most think.  That's the thing with hand laid track, you can build it any way you want, going anywhere you want and depending on the time one wishes to invest in the effort one can do their entire layout or just certain areas...I like that flexibility.  Keep up the good work and post some pics when you are able to, I'd love to follow the progress.