Finally at the point of buying turnouts for my first new shelf layout. (2x8…well, space is tight and to hot in Florida to build in the garage so I annexed a bit of realestate in the home office for this) The final plans for the layout are still in my head but decided to use ME code 70 as the appearance is important to me, layout is going to be a bit of Brooklyn waterfront…Army Terminal… and part hills of Pennsylvania…I know, my fantasy, and after much reading and looking at the various stuff ME just seemed the most favored for looks and potentially DCC friendly. So a few weeks ago, although the “shelf” wasn’t even up…still had to empty out 7 years of file cabinets, I could resist no longer and bought a #6 RH and some lengths of flex…well, great, pretty happy with the flex, despite many opinions that its hard to work with, but I’ve played around with it and I don’t believe it’s that hard to deal with. And the TO looks great. So, ready to buy 4-6 additional turnouts and no one has LH TO’s. Is ME going out of business?
They’re a small shop, and if you saw the video of a visit to them, nothing is automated. Even molding the flex track, it’s a multi-step procedure for each piece because the injection molding machine for the ties does not do the whole 3 foot piece in one shot. That’s why if you look on the bottom you will find 2 palces where BOTH tie strips have a gap. The operataor places rails, closes the machine, then has to move the partial assembly to the side, repeat, and finally do it a third time just to make one piece of flex track.
It’s probably why they AREN’T going out of business - no chance of overproducing and saturating the market.
The alternative is handlaying the turnouts using ME rail - the rail you can always get, and use the flex to fill in.
Thx…glad to hear they’re in business and the care they take in producing their track. It definitely shows. I’m happy to support an operation such as you describe…made in America with pride.
Hope they’re making some code 70’s LH in the next run! I’m poking around all over the Internet so will assume they’ll turn up soon enough. There were a couple on ebay recently but I blew it as someone outbid me in the last few seconds…so far most hobby guys are out of stock for the moment…RH’s seem to be more prevalent at the moment…in code 70.
if I didn’t have numerous unfinished projects at the moment hand laying might be an option. Seems challenging. Not sure my skills are good enough yet. But as the RR grows I can see it becoming worthwhile.
I just received an e-mail from Trainworld, announcing that they are carrying track from Peco, Walthers, Shinohara and Micro Engineering. Trainworld is a big player, and if they suddenly placed a large order with ME, that might send ripples up and down the whole distribution chain.
Check with Trainworld. They have Code 83 #6 turnouts for $16.99. I’ve ordered from them many times, and I’ve never been disappointed. They ship faster than anyone else I’ve dealt with, too.
Thx. I checked Trainworld. No LH code 70 at this point. And Mr. B, I’m monitoring those ME turnouts on ebay but they are code 83. I’ll just proceed with other projects for the moment. I’m sure they’ll turn up sooner or later. If not ill probably consider the Shinoharas but much rather the MEs. There is some guy on ebay selling hand made for about 30.00 bucks each. Seems a tad expensive. I paid 17 bucks from ModelTrainStuff on the Internet for RH #6’s. . On sale. They seem to be the cheapest supplier I’ve found for just about anything . Fast shipping too. Thanks for input gentlemen. Best, Paul
Oops, wait a minute. Just went back and read your original post. You wanted LEFT hand turnouts, not right hand. The ones in the link are right hand. Sorry!!!
[:|]Yes, it’s the LH code 70’s that are nowhere to be found…I’ve got plenty to keep me busy till they get back in circulation…however, laying the track is at least in my experience…which is limited…about the first thing that gets done… So within the next few weeks if they don’t appear either I’ll have to go with Shinohara or Peco I guess . I’m really trying to stick with the ME code 70.
Only need 3 of the LH’s. I’m cramming a lot in to 2’ x 8’ ft…half of Brooklyn and some Pocono Mountains! [:|] with any luck it will be phase I and will add phase II on the next 2x8 leg to the southwest corner of the plan. There is no similarity to reality in my track plan…I don’t care at this point. Only have small space and this will give me a lot of detail and cool looking scenes…I hope…so I’m going for it.
I’ve got 3 diesels that need lights, weathering and such, 4 old Walthers structures I’m going to clean up and repaint and light, building a sort of scratch built elevated passenger station, NY Transit style, 4 prr hoppers to decal and weather…so I could be busy for several months without those dang turnouts…but would love to run some trains one of these days.
To make up for my previous misinformation post…I had received a catalog from MicroMark where they show ME code 70 left hand turnouts. So I called them this morning asked if they had them in stock. The lady said “yes”. So I asked her how many, and she said “quite a number”.
Flipping one turnout at the left will eliminate a potentially troublesome s-curve through the diverging route and allow you to use a right-hand turnout. Like this image (though it’s rotated 180 degrees from your orientation):
The hoppers will sit safely in the barn until all day labor punches out.
However there have been a few moments during construction of the hoppers when I considered using a much larger and heavier object then a soldering iron on them.
