Turnouts for HO

[TomR]

I inherited about 20 turnouts with some stuff I bought, but I'm have derailments on some because they just look loose and worn out.

These are pretty compact turnouts, I'm not sure who makes them. They are pretty old.

What's a good reliable turnout to chose?? Just need a standard sliding motor type, nothing special.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[flh80]

There aren't that many to choose from. Peco are very good but not cheap if you need a bunch, they add up. Otherwise Atlas is the cheapest for code 100 and not too bad quality wise. That's mostly what I'm using, but have some Peco's. I did have some new Atlas's not work electrically, new, right from the package.

 

[TomR]

There aren't that many to choose from. Peco are very good but not cheap if you need a bunch, they add up. Otherwise Atlas is the cheapest for code 100 and not too bad quality wise. That's mostly what I'm using, but have some Peco's. I did have some new Atlas's not work electrically, new, right from the package.

What is a code 100? Rail height or something else? I don't know much about this stuff.

Of the turnouts that came with this stuff, the one I'm having problems with is one of the worse. It has a very thin flexible frog I can gently push with my finger, and it flexes quite a bit), and I think that may be the problem when long cars run through it in one direction when turning. Even the eyelet holding the frog that acts as a pivot is abnormally loose.

 

[tankist]

thin flexible frog?

perhaps you talking about point rails there ("the eyelet holding the frog that acts as a pivot" ) ?




regardless, good quality turnout is Peco and Shinohara/walthers. Atlas is IMHO lacking. Pecos are indeed quite expencive though

 

[Selector]

Are you able to change your rail configurations, or are they all set in place and you want to swap out for better turnouts? If you change things a bit, I would recommend a #6 Peco Code 83 Streamline or the same in Atlas Customline. Insulated or electric frog would be your choice.

You can also use Micro Engineering turnouts of the same number, or Walthers/Shinohara. Any one of these will have you seeing a great improvement in what you have.

 

[TomR]

thin flexible frog?



perhaps you talking about point rails there ("the eyelet holding the frog that acts as a pivot" ) ?

Oh, so the little movable rails are called the point rails. I understand now.

Maybe I can find a drawing naming the parts of the turnout somewhere???

regardless, good quality turnout is Peco and Shinohara/walthers. Atlas is IMHO lacking. Pecos are indeed quite expencive though

I can do a few Peco's at a time as they need replacing. I want things to run right, although I don't mind a little installation work.

this is the bad one.......the truck is at the point where my cars derail. Look how thin the "point rails??" are! Plus the eyelets are loose.

 

[Toyguy]

I find the Atlas Custom Line switches to be decent for the money but they do require some sort of switch machine or ground throw to hold them one way or the other. The Peco's have a nice snap-action to them, but that also can make them a little harder to use with electronic switch machines like the Tortoise. We've had to switch our Tortoises to heavier piano wire to make them flip the Pecos. You can modify the Pecos to take the springs out, but we didn't want to do that. The Shinohara stuff looks really nice, and they have some very cool multi-way turnouts and slip switches, but they are very pricey as well, like the Pecos.

 

[bkpigs]

this is the bad one.......the truck is at the point where my cars derail. Look how thin the "point rails??" are! Plus the eyelets are loose.

That looks like an Atlas No. 4 turnout. One thing that could be the causing the problem is that where the point rail connects to the stock rail (where the lower left wheel is at in the picture). Eye down the railhead from all angles and see if there is a protruding edge or something that could be catching the flange and causing your derailment.

 

[tankist]

nope this is not a #4 but old snap-switch. notice the frog is not metal and there are no holes for nails on its side. its curvature is even more steep then #4. didn't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but in my experience it is even worse then atlas custom #4 (which i don't regard highly either). i could not get even the GP units to reliably run on it .

IMHO, better to have one or 2 less engines in collection rather then track material of shoddy quality. just my 00.002
worth off


attached:
#4 customline frog. this is mark2 (due to gray colored finish)

 

[Beachbum]

I'll put in a vote for Peco - they have a nice snap spring action so you don't need a groundthrow for manual use. However, they are more pricey than Atlas and sometimes harder to find locally, depending on where you live.

Remember that there's a difference between Peco Electrofrog and Insulfrog TOs if you go with Peco.

 

[TomR]

nope this is not a #4 but old snap-switch. notice the frog is not metal and there are no holes for nails on its side. its curvature is even more steep then #4. didn't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but in my experience it is even worse then atlas custom #4 (which i don't regard highly either). i could not get even the GP units to reliably run on it .

IMHO, better to have one or 2 less engines in collection rather then track material of shoddy quality. just my 00.002
worth off)

I got the gear with the stuff I bought used. I don't mind replacing things. I can always move the worse parts to another less critical spot, but this TO is on the mainline where an active siding will be.

attached:
#4 customline frog. this is mark2 (due to gray colored finish)

How does the metal frog work? When the point rails move does the metal frog follow the correct track rail for voltage???? Reduce the dead spots?

Who all uses metal frogs?

 

[tankist]

in that case i'd say get a good material for at least the mainline switches. sidings and such will be slower and will tolerate customline better perhaps. i went with all peco, and even thoguh it cost me, i don't regret one bit.

electrically atlas customline is the perfect . frog is insulated but if one really wants can be powered. those running very short locos might benefit from powered frog

 

[Scordicus]

What is a code 100? Rail height or something else? I don't know much about this stuff.

The code of a piece of track is the height of the top of the rail in thousandths of an inch above the ground, therefor code 100 rail is .100" high and code 83 rail is .083" high...

 

[bkpigs]

nope this is not a #4 but old snap-switch. notice the frog is not metal and there are no holes for nails on its side. its curvature is even more steep then #4.

You are right. My bad. I was trying to respond with a co-worker yacking in my ear about nonsense. (I thought lunch hour was suppose to be a personal time).

 

[TomR]

Thanks for all the help. I'm just a beginner so this is a steep learning curve.

The code of a piece of track is the height of the top of the rail in thousandths of an inch above the ground, therefor code 100 rail is .100" high and code 83 rail is .083" high...

I measured some track, and all of the rails measure around .100 inch above the tie surface, not above the bottom of the tie (ground). So the metal rail itself is .100 inch high.

I don't have my calipers here in front of me, but the overall height including tie looks to be around .15 inch.

As for turnouts, I found some new number 6 Atlas customline turnouts in the piles. I can work these into the layout to replace turnouts that cause problems. I need to buy some more, and some "switch machines".

I'm thinking of buying number 8 code 100 Atlas turnouts and under table switch machines....

https://secure.atlasrr.com/mod1/itemdesc.asp?ic=0065&eq=&Tp=

Does it look like this will work OK???

I have my switch control panel working now. Made a face plate and box last night, and everything works perfectly (except some turnouts de-rail my long cars). Man, is it nice to be able to flip a toggle and change tracks. Next week my boards for rail power control and IR detectors should be here. Next week my credit card bills.

Thanks for the help!!
Tom

 

[TomR]

in that case i'd say get a good material for at least the mainline switches. sidings and such will be slower and will tolerate customline better perhaps. i went with all peco, and even thoguh it cost me, i don't regret one bit.

electrically atlas customline is the perfect . frog is insulated but if one really wants can be powered. those running very short locos might benefit from powered frog

I can power the frog properly depending on control switch position using my Atlas turnouts with metal frogs, since I now know the switch position electronically. I think I will do that to smooth the movement through the turnout.

 

[tankist]

unless you run 0-4-0 steamer you will barely notice any more smoothness with power-frog. but it certainly not going to harm things and can ad to bragging rights. i have 4 new under-table atlas switch machines i will not use. if you want we can swap?

it seems you have means to manufacture your own PCBs, dual layer even. neat. what is your price structure for these? with that you misspeled the word "copyright" "copywrite" means entirely different thing

 

[TomR]

unless you run 0-4-0 steamer you will barely notice any more smoothness with power-frog. but it certainly not going to harm things and can ad to bragging rights. i have 4 new under-table atlas switch machines i will not use. if you want we can swap?

Maybe we can swap, but I don't know what for. I bought a fellow's 30 or 40 year collection of stuff, and have probably 40 locomotives and a few hundred cars of all types. His trackwork and landscaping really sucked, and much of the stuff is old, but I'm sure there are a few good things buried in the boxes.

it seems you have means to manufacture your own PCBs, dual layer even. neat. what is your price structure for these?

I do the layouts here and send the files out to a commercial manufacturer. We used to do the whole mess here from start to finished boards, but that was years ago.

It's probably too expensive to do custom layouts for hobbyists. If there was one layout multiple people could share and spread the cost out.... that would be another thing. For me though, I work for myself for free. I have about $35 per circuit board in actual board costs plus my layout time. I do it because it is so much neater and faster than hand wiring. Problem is I have to buy 5 boards of the same type at the same time, but at least I have spares.

I'm going to build signal controls, track controls, and other things that interface on my layout. I'm waiting on the IR detectors and signal and track control relays. Ordered those boards a few days ago.

with that you misspeled the word "copyright" "copywrite" means entirely different thing

I know. I saw that after I uploaded the files. Hey, but you misspelled misspeled. I will be beaten severely if my resident literary expert sees what I did. Age is no excuse.

Tom