HO turnouts & crossings

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

While using a friends computer over the weekend I happened upon a website of a business/ (person) that made & sold handlaid turnouts & crossings. Unfortunately I have not been about to locate the same here at home with my search.

What I do recall is that the business sells the turnouts & crossings in the rail code of your choice and for a small price more can make them DCC friendly

I also believe that the business is located in North Carolina and starts with “T”

Anyone able to help?

2

http://www.troutcreekeng.com/bkho.html

Was it this one?

3

I think the name you are looking for is called “Fast Tracks”…

Mark

4

Here’s one

http://www.troutcreekeng.com/ for multiple scales

North Carolina with a T might be Tomalco, http://www.tomalcotrack.com/. I believe he is only S scale.

Enjoy

Paul

5

Iron Rooster

Tomalco Track is the one I was thinking of. I guess I did not read that it was S scale…I guess when I saw the codes 100& 83 I thought HO

Thanks to all that responded

Paul

6

Railway Engineering is also a good source.

Wolfgnag

7

If you’re looking for the HO stuff built in 55, 70, 83 and 100, contact me off the list. I have a guy I deal with from New Jersey. He also sells on ebay. John uses Fast Tracks jigs and sells the stuff for just a few dollars over what Walthers turnouts sell for at retail and the ties/rails are painted brown or black, your choice. He also solders a hot wire on the frog. I have not ordered any crossings from him but crossovers. He does a number of turnout sizes including curved ones. Most are No. 4 to No. 10. and wyes.

8

The FastTracks turnouts are the way to go, if you want trouble-free turnouts and realistic operation, especially in DCC operation.

I was planning on going with the Peco 83’s but after more consideration, I may have these made to order for my layout. The jigs are a little pricy but the turnouts really look great.

HF1

9

The fact that the Fast Tracks jigs are pricy is why I let John buy the jigs as he builds them for a number of customers and will get his return on investment. I use a lot of different size turnouts and rail sizes. And even with my large layout, I’m not sure I could get my return on investment on the jigs.

Incidentally, one concern that folks have with the Fast Tracks system is that the turnouts are made in jigs and therefore not custom. Well, I had just a few custom locations on my layout so I took the turnouts John made for me and unsoldered a few copper clad ties and in some cases also replaced a few wood ties, and was able to get something custom. Of course, I made sure the rails were still in gauge. (John will do custom, but it cost more.)

The turnouts don’t have the tie plate and spike detail but they look good and operate flawlessly. You can roll cars through these turnouts and not hear a click.

John, uses the wider NMRA clearance for the points but at some later date I may move them closer like Tony Koester does. Beware that there are some builders out there that don’t solder the turnouts together correctly and the solder joints come undone. I bought a few from a guy that did that and sent them back as they came undone before I even used them. I don’t have that problem with John’s work.