What Brand Turnouts for track on roadbed - NOT EZ Track

[Yampa Bob]

Notice that "Fast Tracks" has NMRA Warrant #2009-0001.   

[pdlethbridge]

Have you ever seen the yard he made? Bronx terminal. If you go down the page, you'll see a next section marker. All pictures can be enlarged. Great site, details and ideas. For instance, Using easy off oven cleaner to remove paint from models, safe for plastic.
http://www.bronx-terminal.com/?p=5

[Yampa Bob]

That is incredible, all the parts cut with a laser.

Several years ago I assembled a large airplane kit, all the balsa, lite-ply and spruce parts were laser cut. Quite an improvement over the old "die-scrunched" kits.

[pdlethbridge]

No, cut by hand tools. That is an example of what the fast track system can do. It's absolutely stunning.

[Yampa Bob]

I was referring to the terminal building.

[pdlethbridge]

yes. twice to get it right

[Atlantic Central]

Jim Banner,

You might be surprised at all the improvements in the latest versions of the Atlas turnouts (like the last 10 years actually). The code 83 line is top notch as far as I'm concerned and I prefer them to all those "pricey" brands. The rivets are gone and the throw bar can be reversed.

Looks wise they may not seems as "accurate" out of the box, but once installed, ballasted and painted they look just a good to me as all that stuff that's costs twice as much, and, operationally they work well.

Personally I prefer the isolated metal frog which can be powered separately, a feature Atlas has always had that other are now doing to be "DCC friendly".

The PECO code 83 line is nice, but I dislike their point/spring system and the curved frogs on the code 100 line.

Another complaint I have with many "high end" commercial turnouts is the long lead on the diverging route? What is that about? This is the one thing both Atlas and PECO have right - out of the box, two turnouts connected diverging route to diverging route, should make a crossover with correct track centers and/or turnouts "stacked' should make yard leads without trimming or spacers.

I hand laid track/turnouts years ago, but now I only do that for special situations. I have a friend who does the fasttracks thing and they are nice, but by the time you buy all the jigs and the special ties/parts, its no cheaper than Atlas and takes longer.

Very happy with my Atlas turnouts and Tortoise switch machines.

Sheldon
   

[Jim Banner]

Good point about the isolated metal frog.  One of the problems with my older Shinohara turnouts is that the frog, closure rails and point rails are all connected and all change polarity when the turnout is thrown.  Where the point gap is not wide enough, wheels, particularly on 8 and 10 coupled locomotives, can easily short between the stock rail and the nearby point rail.  Having just the frog change polarity avoids this problem.  I started building DCC friendly large scale turnouts about 8 or 10 years ago that are similar in that the point rails are permanently connected to their neighbouring stock rails while the closure rails and all metal frogs change polarity as required.  I have rebuilt some balky Shinohara H0 turnouts along the same lines.

Presently I am building some 0n30 stub turnouts.  I enjoy laying track and building turnouts and special appliances, such as a recent diamond that has one straight track and one curved track of a nonstandard radius set at a nonstandard angle.  I have also built some odd ball turnouts, such as the one on my garden layout where the points and frog are offset from one another by about 3 feet.  This puts the frog, which is strong enough to walk on and drive over, where it needs to be.  And it lets the points, which are not so rugged, be out of the way of foot and vehicular traffic.  Another project planned is a gantlet track over a trestle.  As far as I know, nobody make the special hardware for these.   

I suspect the extra length in the high end turnouts is to allow them to use spiral easements in the curves.  Snap switches use no easement.  NMRA compliant turnouts have a shortened easement and are a good compromise.  A full spiral easement takes up a lot of extra real estate.

[grumpy]

I like many others want to get their trains on track as quickly as possible . It takes many evenings of hand laying track before any trains can be run. Sectional track and flex track are quicker but if you want instant gratification the EZtrack is the answer. Personally I think that hand laying track is a hobby unto itself.
Don

[Atlantic Central]

Jim,

Just to be clear, I don't use Atlas snap switches, they are effectively a #3.5, way too sharp for anything but street industrial trackage.

Atlas makes their Custom line code 83 in #4's (which are really #4.5), #6's and #8's. My layout is exclusively #6 and #8 except for industrial trackage.

Sheldon

[jward]

Have you ever seen the yard he made? Bronx terminal. If you go down the page, you'll see a next section marker. All pictures can be enlarged. Great site, details and ideas. For instance, Using easy off oven cleaner to remove paint from models, safe for plastic.
http://www.bronx-terminal.com/?p=5

that is incredible. i wouldn't have the patience to custom build something that intricate. would like to see how he intends to gap all those rails, and where he is going to put his power feeders.