I am planning a new layout after switching from N scale to HO scale, and looking at track options, I am drawn to Peco flex track for its realistic appearance and to the Walthers/Shinohara turnouts. I don’t really like the Peco power-routing turnout options and I want to power the frogs, so insulfrog is out. It looks like the Walthers line is what I am looking for.
Any shimming or compatibility issues with the track? Any recommendations on which rail joiners I should use between the Peco flex and the Walthers turnouts? If anyone has experience with this track combination, I’d like to hear about it.
Provided you’re thinking of code 83 rail, the Peco and Shinohara should be pretty close to matching up with each other. Peco rail joiners would probably be the best ones to use.
My home layout has a mixture of Peco, Atlas and Shinohara code 83 turnouts and crossings because Peco didn’t make all the types I needed. The main problem I ran into is that the foot of Peco rail is narrower than Atlas rail, so I had to use Atlas rail joiners and squeeze them closed to fit properly onto Peco flex track.
A slight amount of shimming was necessary to get the tops of the rail even between Peco flex track and a Shinohara turnout, but I don’t recall which one was lower, even though they were both code 83.
I don’t have these combos but I do have Shinohara turnouts. And I’m pretty sure they only make insulfrogs. What I did was power the frogs using my tortoise switch machines.
It’s no big deal to mix codes and brands. The worst you would have to do is cut a rail joiner in the top middle and leave the bottom in-tact. Then you can bend a slight step into it so it looks like the Atlas transition joiners, then you can make the surface of the rail match. A little shimming may be necessary but so what. Save some old business cards for that. Easy peazy.