I’ve seen several threads asking if the Fast Track Turnout Jigs are worth the money. I guess they would be if you were doing more than 15 of the same type, however, I’m not and can’t justify spending $190. for a couple of turnouts.
I needed two large radius curved turnouts for my layout. I’ve seen curved turnouts by Shinohara at the last train show in my area for $28. Quite a cost for a curved turnout. So I checked out Ebay. I found someone making Fast Tracks curved (32" outside and 25" inside radius) turnouts for $32.50. Since these turnouts have such a great review I bit the bullet and bought two.
They were shipped on Saturday and arrived yesterday, only one day shipping (very good!). I checked them out last night and the guy that built them did a fantastic job on them. He also asked me if I wanted them drilled and where to drill the hole in the throwbar.
These are by far the smoothest working turnouts I have. If I need any more special made turnouts I’ll be looking for this same person to build them for me.
For those who want just a couple of fast tracks turnouts and don’t want the expense of purchasing the kit I suggest looking on Ebay. There are several people selling them at different prices.
I’ve heard everyone saying how much better these turnouts are compared to store bought and I have to agree. They are truly superior to any store bought turnout.
Keep in mind that you can use the frog/point tool for turnouts other than the ones you buy the jigs for. In fact, there are alot of people who spend the 50 bucks for the point/frog tool and just handlay the rest by printing out Fasttrack’s templates and using them as a guide.
For example, if you buy the #6 frog/point tool, you can then make, left, right, curved, wye, 3way and slip turnouts by printing out the template.
I look at the jig as a stepping stone to handlaying.
I do indeed find using Central Valley turnout ties as a “poor man’s” jig-built turnout ala Fast Tracks works well. Not only is this approach a lot cheaper than the full-blown Fast Tracks jig method, it gives you turnouts that look better than the Fast Tracks ones – with full tie plate and spikehead detail. And of course, like the Fast Tracks method, the CVT turnouts are ultra reliable and as DCC friendly as it gets.
Here’s a photo of one of these finished turnouts, and I give all the details, step-by-step (with photos), for building these turnouts on my web site:
There were problems at the frog. The two rails at the frog toe are too close. The wheel (of tender trucks at steam engines especially) run on one rail - but the flange touches the other rail. With DCC the booster shuts down!
Therefore I would go with PROTO87 frogs or build your own. Another solution, you can make a cut in front of the frog through the rails. This way you get a longer dead spot or you wire this pieces together with the life frog.
Yes, let me hasten to add that I build my frogs, I don’t use the CVT frogs.
If you gap the frog appropriately as I show in my how-to thread, you won’t have any problems.
Here’s a photo showing the gaps I cut with a motor tool cutoff disk:
(Click image to enlarge)
After cutting the gaps, I superglue some gray styrene into the gaps and then trim it up with a fresh xacto knife blade. If you look closely, you can see the gaps all but disappear on the finished turnout:
(Click image to enlarge)
If you follow the simple guidelines in my how-to thread, you will get a turnout that’s very DCC friendly.
When the seller has a 100% positive feedback and turnouts are the majority of what they sell you can read about the kind of quality they have produced in the past. Not to mention a good picture of the product gives you a good idea of what your going to get.
