Who besides Peco and Shinohara makes curved turnouts? I got one from Peco but the radii for the curves weren’t what I needed. I need something on the order of an 18 and 22 for a small HO layout. I’m checking with my LHS now but I’m not sure he carries the item. I think Roco or some company like that used to make them for code 100 track. Thanks.
Here’s a link for walther’s website. Curved turnouts from 4 companies.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=H&manu=&item=&keywords=curved+turnout&instock=Y&split=30&Submit=Search
peco makes them in set track as well they are much tighter then the streamline range.
ST 244 Right
ST 245 Left
http://www.cchobbies.com/track/peco.htm
Ken.
This is exactly why I hand-lay all of my turnouts and specialwork from raw rail. There are always situations where the available commercial turnouts just don’t fit. On my present layout, that includes a spiral lead where one track on a 610mm (24 inch) radius spreads out into five tracks in less than three linear feet.
The other advantage is that material cost for that spiral of specialwork is just slightly more than the price of one Peco turnout!
Hand-laying specialwork is a skill you might consider developing.
Chuck
I’ve got 3 of those sharper-radius Peco’s, which I think are something like 17 1/2 and 19 1/2. That’s close enough to 18/22 when using Flex-track. I drive them with Peco switch machines, and the whole thing works great. The Peco switch machines really want a capactive discharge unit to power them, though.
You may know this already…
Sometimes a little bit of re-aligning will let you use plain turnouts of the opposite hand… that is… instead of using two LH for a crossover in parallel straight track usuing one LH and on RH will give you a crossover in a curve. Because you can get plain turnouts right down to extremely tight curves this may work for you. Sometimes a mix of radii solves the question.
Hope this helps.
thats exactly why I built my first switch, a double slip. there was an article in MR how to build one. Thats a very good excersize in learning how to build a turnout. That was over 20 years ago. I still have that turnout off my old layout.
Do it yourself!!
They look terrifying but once you get the hang of things they are really rather simple - and you’ll very shortly start laying out #9.5 switches and #7.75 switches and #12.125 switches. The trick is to develop a set of jigs to facilitate your getting the proper frog angle. There are a couple of outfits that sell ready made jigs - (there was another topic on this forum a few weeks past that tackled this same issue, BTW, and I looked at some of the links in that posting for guidance).
I’ll be the first person to admit that I’ve never hand layed a curved turnout - nor a slip-switch for that matter- but the hobby press has tackled this subject on numerous occasions (including articles on curved turnouts); maybe the NMRA index can put you in the ballpark for some of these articles.
Once you get the hang of things try this one on for size: a Y-switch with a 3.5 divergence to the left and a 5.5 divergence to the right. Believe me, I’ve seen one done that way; the model rail who introduced me to handlaying switches (“How would you like to learn to scratchbuild a turnout?”) had one (and several others I suspect) in his industrial trackage.
I have my first #6 double slip 90% complete, and built the equivalent of a #8-#9 curved righthand turnout out of necessity recently. That was a quantum leap for me since my previous experience had been a couple of Fast Tracks jig-assisted #8’s and good old EZ-Track.
It is frustrating often because I am not good at fine work, such as soldering, and I have stopped on the double slip at the point where I must solder brass shimstock brackets on the point rail for the throwbars, and find tiny self-tapping screws for the heels of those points…where they are meant to pivot.
selector
Brute force and ignorance method for pivoting points:
Drill a hole in the roadbed very slightly larger than the diameter of a flathead wire nail.
Insert nail in hole, head just above tie level.
Tin nail head
Tin heel of point
Install point with (temporary) spikes to assure alignment.
Press down (gently) on heel of point with HOT soldering tool.
Viola! Perfect point pivot.
I’ve been operating a module with two dozen plus points pivoted in that manner for 26 years now, and am still waiting to see my first problem with them. As a bonus, the open point is as (electrically) dead as King Tut. (I power my frogs through contacts on the turnout actuators.)
Chuck
Thank-you, Chuck. I just might go with that. Twenty-six year…whew!!
-Crandell
Have you had to rejoin?
Alexander
Tillig Pilz code 83 elite has some good curved turnouts, plus they has some degree of flexibility to make a better fit. The continuous rail makes for a smoother diverging route.
I have had to modify the curved Peco #7.5 in most cases by nipping the tie joiners, cutting out short gaps in the outer curve tie joiners, and then straightening the outbound curves, but mostly the “through” track curve. It works, in many cases getting me up to a #9 or better, and still in gauge.