To save a bit of cash, I decided to re-use some old brass Shinohara 3-way turnouts left over from my teenage-years layout. Everything else is NS, but I figured these were in a yard, and new ones were very pricey. I bought Peco switch motors for them, and figured out how to use some relays to wire up the frog ends for power when the points didn’t make perfect contact.
Electrically, they worked pretty well. Physically, though, I had trouble keeping the points against the rails, probaby because the Peco machines are designed for Peco turnouts, which have latching springs to hold the points tight. Also, there are a lot of tight tolerances between rails, points and guard rails on these turnouts, and I found that metal wheels caused intermittent shorts as they went over the turnout.
Anyway, I found a good deal on Peco 3-ways, and last week I tore out my “finished” trackwork, ballast and all, to get rid of the last brass on my layout. What a difference! The turnouts throw smoothly and stay put, and I got rid of the clumsy relays because the Pecos are Insulfrog types. They’re shorter than the Shinohara’s, but with a 3-inch section of flex track they basically dropped right into place.
Weren’t those Shinohara turnouts power routing (non-insulated frogs)?
I use brass track for modeling abandoned lines, yard junk and scrap loads, so don’t chuck that old brass in the trash.
Yeah, the Shinoharas were power routing, but only when the points made good contact with the rails. They were old and a bit loose, and the Peco switch motors weren’t too good a match for them. Also, tarnished brass isn’t a good conductor, and it was impossible to keep that part clean. The result was a poor and unreliable contact, so I installed the relays in hopes of getting some reliability.
Boy, I’m glad I went with Peco then. I got a very good price on Peco stuff at Model Railway Post Office http://www.modelrailwaypo.com in New Jersey. I didn’t know about them until I saw their ad in Railroad Model Craftsman.