I’ve purchased some Walthers code 83 turnouts. When test fitting two #6 turnouts into a crossover configuration, I can’t get the track width to be any closer than about 3 inches. I’d like have the track width at 2.25 inches. I know this is possible, as I’ve seen diagrams of #6 crossovers with 2 inch track widths (see the trackplanning article in this month’s MR for example). Am I missing something? The only way I can see to get them closer together would be to trim back the ends of the turnouts. Is that typically done? Thanks!
I would suspect that trimming the rails would be the only way. Some other manufacturers may have different frog angles to do this without trimming but I think that any turnout that conforms to NMRA standards would be very close to each other.
BB
I recently went through the process of trimming the diverging legs of my #6 turnouts to get my tracks on a 2.25" centerline spacing. Go to the NMRA web site and you’ll find the data regarding the length from PF to PF (point of frog to point of frog). Look at the bottom of this page: http://www.nmra.org/standards/rp12_3.html
Example: to create a crossover track with 2" spacing using #6 turnouts, the PF to PF dimension needs to be 4.25". I hope this helps.
Don Z.
I just installed some turnouts myself and had to remind myself that it’s okay to trim back the legs from a turnout. Be sure to leave at least a couple of ties past the guardrails. Trim the spacing pieces off from under the end ties and slide them together so you can solder the joint. Then, you can slide them back into place.
Hope this helps.
Mondo