I am building my new layout, and am using peco code 83 insulfrog tunrouts, along with peco code 83 flex track, and Peco 90 crossings exclusively with the exception of a Walthers Double Crossover and Walthers 30, 45 crossings. I am needing 60 crossings as well but am having trouble coming up with Walthers ones, will the Atlas crossings look cosmetically and perform similar to Walthers?
They look about the same. I had one Atlas crossing on my layout, though, and it turned out to be defective. There was something inside it that would intermittently short when an engine passed over. I ended up replacing it with a Walthers crossing, and have had no problems with that one.
I built my HO code 83 layout trackage last year with Walthers Shinohara turnouts, Atlas flex track and 3 Atlas 90 degree crossings. I do not know if the crossings problem I had is similar on others that are not 90 degree. The problem with the 90’s is that rolling stock hobbles significantly over them. I believe the flangeways are off in depth and/or width (more likely the former). Some filing has helped but they need more attention. I would avoid them in the future if possible. Again, I don’t know if the issue is unique to the 90 degree type.
Cosmetically they don’t look too similar to Walthers, but consider this… I think ties on Peco track are the thickest in HO. Walthers/Shinohara and Micro Engineering are thinnest. Atlas ties are just about the same thickness as Peco, so the amount of shimming you’ll need to do for smooth trackwork may be less with Atlas. Atlas track looks closer to Peco to my eyes than Walthers track does, but either way they are all reasonable compatible visually once painted and ballasted.
I have seen more complaints about the performance of Atlas crossings than Walthers, mostly that they often require considerable filing to work smoothly. I’d suggest trying one out from both sources before investing heavily. With the number of crossings you’ll need, scratchbuilding may be a cost-effective option.
Not to stray too much from the OP, but I do have a similar question. I’ve been considering using N Scale Code 80 Peco #4 insulfrog turnouts on a layout where I’m using Atlas flextrack (Code 80). Can someone tell me if those turnouts would look out of place with the Atlas flextrack, unpainted?