I am considering using a sector plate in order to save the space of a fan of sidings in an off-scene stock yard.
I would need about 6 to 8 tracks about 48" long.

Any advice from users of such a device please?

Maurice C.

I built a train turntable come traverser. For the traverser I used kitchen drawer slides laid on there side. The turntable was mounted onto squares of MDF mounted on the slides. For the turntable I used a lazy Susan bearing. The tracks on the turntable were 1 metre T section Aluminium extrusion. Word of warning I got the Aluminium from various B&Q branches, there is an enormous variation in section thickness. I bought several lengths of straight track setta as using these to keep track gauge when I glued them to an mdf base using contact adhesive

A 'Sector Plate' (pivoted at opposite end to the input track) is probably the simplest and easiest solution for a single-ended fiddle yard on a single track line.
It gets much more awkward if you have more than one approaching track, either a double track line or entry from both ends, and in that situation a straight sliding 'traverser' is the more practical solution.

With the sector plate, the key point for smooth operation is that the input edge should be a smooth continuous curve centred on the pivot point, and the tracks should fan out on the edge to each be perpendicular to the edge.

@mojo

I have a short article from Australian Model Railway Magazine from sometime in '21 or '22 about sector plate construction in HO.

Here is a picture from that article.
If this is what you are looking for and you would like the article for a bit of a starting point, PM me.




Mark

@Platy767
Mark - would I be correct in assuming the track on the LH board pivots to line up with the storage board at the right?
Usually it's the RH board which would pivot - see this vid

I must admit I normally think of a sector plate as a single track on the plate and multiple entry/exit tracks, as per Mark's photo.

With multiple tracks on the sector plate I'm not so sure what advantage that is over a full traverser? Doesn't it imply the trackwork on the plate has to converge at the pivoting end?

A multi-track sector plate is easier to construct than a traverser. You are right that the tracks have to converge to a degree towards the pivot, but not entirely. You can still keep them apart to loading gauge or more. What really happens is they have to spread out at the other end.

@Newportnobby

I've not built either a traverser, sector plate or train turntable, and the fiddle yard I'm building at the moment has morphed into a 2nd terminus, but my previous understanding was a sector plate might only have 1 road and an end pivot so it can serve multiple points, but am happy to learn otherwise.

I have observed the pivot style is sometimes/often used in small or micro layouts where only half a station is modelled and the pivot road acts as the far end of a crossover and goods road.

Mark

Quote from: Newportnobby on May 07, 2025, 10:57:23 AMUsually it's the RH board which would pivot - see this vid

Wouldn't that depend on which side of the layout you want the sector plate? I've seen layouts with two - one at each end.

Quote from: Steven B on May 07, 2025, 03:18:50 PM

Quote from: Newportnobby on May 07, 2025, 10:57:23 AMUsually it's the RH board which would pivot - see this vid

Wouldn't that depend on which side of the layout you want the sector plate? I've seen layouts with two - one at each end.

Agreed, but I was referring to Mark's picture where the LH board seemed to part of the main layout but has a pivoting single track whereas the norm is the sector plate is the moving board with multiple lines (I'm old school Cyril Freezer type)

My former layout, Portpatrick Town, as a through station had a fiddle yard at each end.  I adopted the sector plate approach.  First shown to the public at Berkhamstead Show in Ict 2006.  It was at Aly Paly in 2008. THe carpentry was not too hard, using a jigsaw.  It was the last layout where I build the boards myself from scratch.  3 ft boards with a 2ft9 inch plate.
 Electrics easy enough.  THe common return was run from the buffer end up the length of the boards so as not to have a problem with crossing the boards framing.  alongside each feed rail there was a brass nail soldered to the feed rail.  Then a short length of wire from the feed rail on the run in, with a crocodile clip to give connection via the nail.  very simple and it all worked well for the 12 year exhibition life of the layout.  Eventually one of the plates was bowing (half inch ply).  This caused running issues.  So as there were some other problems as well,  I retired the layout in 2018 and retrieved all I could.

Kept the 4 of the 5 trestles, which are used when 1 of my 2 new layouts are at shows.

For Allanbrae I bought ready made (forgotten who from) and for Cromarty I have used White Rose kits. Both have Setrack points and fan fiddle yards.

Quote from: ntpntpntp on May 07, 2025, 11:35:21 AMI must admit I normally think of a sector plate as a single track on the plate and multiple entry/exit tracks, as per Mark's photo.

Both single and multiple road swinging decks are used on layouts.
A Single road deck tends to be used to transfer a train from one track to another (this was the usage of the few prototypes); the multiple track tends to be for storing trains in.

Quote from: ntpntpntp on May 07, 2025, 11:35:21 AMWith multiple tracks on the sector plate I'm not so sure what advantage that is over a full traverser? Doesn't it imply the trackwork on the plate has to converge at the pivoting end?

The advantage of the multi-road sector plate over the straight traverser is that having the solidly fixed pivot point it is generally easier to construct and operate reliably.
The disadvantage is that if you have a multiple track line on the approach, it is very awkward to set up in a way that allows simultaneous arrivals and departures because as said above the tracks need to all meet the curved edge at 90 degrees.

Personally, I'd favour a sector plate for a single approach track and a traverser for multi-track approach.

In the Plans For Small Layouts supplement from the N Gauge Society (we all have that, don't we) there is a sector plate application in LITTLE PRESTON TO SCORTCH CORNER (VIA MUCH CREASING) from Graham Lawrence that uses a sector plate to transfer stock from a layout to a behind the scenes fiddle yard. In the same publication Matthew Taylor has a plan for CLOUGHTON BRIDGE that uses a sector plate in a similar way. These are how I thought a sector plate would usually be used.





I was trying to again find some online photos of an EM gauge layout that was an example of using the PECO EM track and points. It used a sector plate as the crossover end, but I can't find the blog/article anymore. I thought it was a really good, actually built, example.

Anyway, from a simple question from the OP, it has been a very good discussion.

Mark