What Atlas track No.# will I need for high speed switching? i:e 60mph
A good quality # 6 turnout should slide your properly weighted, coupled, and gauged rolling stock through it at that speed. I use hand laid #8 turnouts on my main, and Peco Code 83 #6 turnouts in my yard, but I would not be averse to using the Pecos out on the main. No faster, though…[(-D]
-Crandell
I use Atlas custom line # 8 for my main line cross-overs. But i set speed restrictions on big steamers, not over 30 smph. Like big boys. I have 2 that are cast metal and could easily knock a cross-over out of alignment. High speed is nice, but not practicable.
Railcon44
I use Peco on my faster mains and they hold up darn good. I do have some Atlas # 6’s that work well at higher speeds. But, if the turnouts are close to the edge of the layout out, I would be careful.
Cuda Ken
I am a little confused. What does the OP mean by high speed? High speed in Europe means anything from 125 mph up to 200 mph, slow trains run at 50 mph to 80 mph. Although a # 6 turnout may be sufficient to handle those 80 mph (scale miles, of course), a # 8 or even a # 10 turnout is, IMHO, more appropriate, if not for secure operation, but for looks.
The prototype would use a #20 or larger switch with a moveable point frog. Each one of those switches are about 4 feet long in HO.
No commercial track manufacturer makes a switch for 60 mph diverging route operation. Go with whatever the largest switch number you can get is. #8 or #10 is probably the biggest.
Ulrich,
Passenger train speeds today in the US are actually slower than they were 70-100 years ago. Look up the history on the Lindberg Special - it AVERAGED over 70 mph from Washington DC to New York City.
GG1’s commonly pulled passenger trains in excess of 100 mph on the PRR’s entire electrified teritory. 100+ mph passenger trains were quite common at the peak of passenger rail service here, that was 70-80 years ago.
Even a 200 mph train cannot compete with an airplane for the distances involed in traveling even halfway across the US, so there is no reason to invest in the equipment or needed track upgrades - nobody would use it.
Travelers here either need/want speed - airplanes, OR they want low cost and flexiblity to go anywhere - their own cars.
But much of our trackage here is not protected from pedestrian access and other safety concerns have lead to lower speed limits on the current AMTRAK system.
How fast to freight trains go in Germany? 50 mph is a typical speed here in open country. Keep in mind to that freight trains here are much longer and heavier in tonnage (100+ 100 ton cars in one train), another reason for the slower speeds. The abilty to haul very high tonnages with one crew offsets any need for speed in hauling freight.
As for the OP’s question, as others have said, #8’s or #10’s would be most desirable to simulate the highest speed crossovers here in the US.
Years ago TrueScale made turnouts with closing frogs much like the prototype’s moving frog turnouts.
Sheld
My layout is all Peco Medium turnouts. I have a 12 year old with an OO scale Eurostar with twin motors, a dangerous combination! However, we get very few derailments at speed. This thing flies at what must be close to scale speeds in the 200’s
The worst wreck so far was on Cuda Ken’s layout, long straight, tightish radius curve inside a tunnel in a hard to reach corner…you get the picture!
I believe Fast-Tracks makes turnout kits all the way to #12 (www.handlaidtrack.com). Check their website as they often have completed turnouts for sale. I have also seen their items on ebay.
I have a few #10s on my mainline and a whole herd of #8s but I don’t use them for fast movements as much as the aesthetics.