ON30 Micro Engineering Turnouts

[David]

UPS is scheduled to deliver my batch of ME ON30 turnouts from MicroMark today. They had been on back order since the beginning of February; and promised by ME for a couple of years.

A couple of hours have passed since the first paragraph of this post. UPS has just delivered my order of twelve turnouts. They were definitely worth the wait. ME did a good job in producing these turnouts.

The first thing I noticed was how long they are: slightly over eleven inches along the straight stock rail. They do match up nicely with the printed templates I picked up at the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Dearborn, MI back in 2005.

The turnouts come with a two sided set of instructions that cover everything from them being DCC ready to mounting and detailing. That's right, detailing. They come with bolt head castings for the frog and a switch stand mount that can be located on either side of the turnout.

The frog is isolated and made from metal so it can be powered through switch machine contacts if desired. The rails are un-weathered but instructions are included on weathering the rails to match their flex track (of which I have about 75 feet).

The gauge checks out OK, although they may be a little tight on the diverging rail. As received, the turnouts may need to be straightened slightly due to the ties taking a set during shipment. No big deal, just press the side against a straight surface or use a straight edge while mounting. There are even directions on how to curve the rails immediately past the frog.

Now I need to get busy laying track.

[kendoitall]

My two turnouts also just arrived this afternoon, and after performing a perfunctory examination, have found them just what I wanted. I like the snap-action and all dimensions seem fine. Slightly deep wheel flanges do not hit the "spike heads". I too was surprised by the length of the turnouts but not by the quality since ME flex track is probably the best around. I guess I will not have to lay my own, which will save a lot of time and cussing. Good work, Micro Engineering.

By the way, any ideas from anyone out there on how best to weather the track and turnouts? ME has some ideas included with the turnouts, but I would be interested in other methods.

[NevinW]

Could one of you take a photo?  Seeing one would be really helpful -  Nevin

[bwreno]

For good picture:

Go to Micro-mark home page---type in Keyword   turnout

[NevinW]

Anything futher to report after installing them?  -  Nevin