Thanks for the informative and helpful suggestions here at the Forum.
I am ready to purchase and install code 100 manual turnouts/switches. Several brands are available: Atlas "Mark IV’ #6s; Shinohara #8s; and PECO #6s. Other than the curve radii and prices, are there significant differences in performance quality, reliability, ease of maintenance, etc.? Which ones are recommended for a beginner? And why is one brand preferred over another?
It seems like it is easier to access and order stuff from a company called Model Train Stuff vis-a-vis Walthers. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong when I go to the Walthers website. Plus, I actually talked with a human being at Model Train Stuff regarding an order. Any tips out there?
Peco´s turnouts are, IMHO, the most reliable turnouts available, but they are quite expensive and they do not follow US or Canadian outline in terms of tie spacing and tie layout. If you want to follow north American prototype, you need to go for their code 83 range of track, which is designed for the US market.
Atlas code 100 seems to be the best deal in terms of pricing and there are many sources where you can buy track and switches. However, there are differing opinions about quality here in the community. My personal choice is Peco for reasons of reliability and availability here in Germany.
I am not so sure about Shinohara/Walthers in terms of availability other than Walthers. Quality is not an issue with Shinohara.
This mistake is commonly made, but there is no such thing as a PECO “#6” in Code 75 or Code 100. These turnouts have a curved diverging leg with different radii in the curve, so they are sold as Small, Medium, and Large. All PECO Code 100 turnouts use the same frog, about a #4.5. (The PECO Code 83 are different and offer differently numbered frogs in the turnouts.)
Also, you are asking about comparing #6s and #8s from different companies as if they are model numbers. This is not the case, these are differently sized turnouts, often from the same manufacturers. #4s are fairly sharp, for example, while #8s are broader.
Walthers is primarily a distributor, not a dealer (although they do sell to the public at list price through a subsidiary). If someone else has it in stock, you will get a better price from another dealer nealry always, because Walthers does not want to be in price competition with their dealers.
I have never inspected a PECO turnout, but I have a fundamental problem in geometry, understanding how all the turnouts can have the same frog angle. If the rail curves more sharply, it will achieve a larger angle by the time it reaches the other rail (the frog location), and conversely, if it curves more gently, it will be at a shallower angle when it gets to the other rail. It just seems fundamentally impossible for different-curvature turnouts to have the same frog geometry! Can someone explain?
It actually is pretty simple once you get your head around it. The frog is only the start of the divergence. The diverging track in a typical straight turnout following the frog is, relatively, straight. By contrast, the diverging leg on PECO C75 and C100 turnouts essentially start curving immediately after the frog. How much they curve (and thus, the effective angle of the turnout) is determined by the radius of that curving diverging track, rather than the frog angle.
To put it another way, both rails of the diverging track curve, and they do so after the frog.
I have used Peco, Shinohara (Walthers), Micro Engineering and Atlas. Peco and Shinohara seem to be a little better quality than Atlas (but I am using a few of the new Code 83 turnouts and they seem quite good for the money). The Micro Engineering turnout is by far the most detailed and is relatively inline with Walthers/Shinohara in price. I never buy track from Walthers; too expensive.Ebay has many good dealers that sell at reasonable prices or you can use Standard Hobby Supply as a reasonable mail order business (I have used them many times for flex track and cork roadbed).
I suspect you are rather new to the hobby - so Welcome Aboard!!!
I’ve used Atlas products since the 1960s, and found them then - and now - to be the best deal for the money. While there are “better” turnouts out there, you will pay a premium for them. Atlas, like several of the long time MR manufacturers (i.e. Athearn, MRC, etc.) puts out quality products that are readily available and sell for reasonable prices. In addition to turnouts, they put out quality switches (solenoids) to operate the Custom Line turnouts. I’ve used the same ones for almost 20 years, with only one failure (out of almost 40).
Atlas offers a full line of code 100 track/turnouts (I love the new # 8s), and also a full line of the smaller and more “realistic” code 83. You can get good prices from various online dealers such as Modeltrainstuff, NHSHobbies, ToyTrainHeaven, and Caboose Hobbies. Of course you can also get them from the local hobby shop too!
I have only used Shinohara (Walthers) over the years and have been satisfied. The problem is they can be hard to come by at times but I have always thought they are worth the wait.
Time to put in another plug for my LHS - Peach Creek Shops in Laurel MD. They always have the full range of Walthers Code 83 track products in stock, including curved turnouts, and all at nice discounts. Nice to deal with, too.