My layout specified “snap switches” so I bought some, to go with the two on my layout.
Now, I am looking through the Walther’s catalog and noticed there are snap switches for 22" radius, which I am using; I don’t remember ever seeing anything that said the radius being used.
Is it really going to be a big difference, or will it just look a little distorted?
22" r snap switches are relatively new. The 18" r ones come with a piece of 1/3 curve to make it so the switch and the extra piece make a curve the same length as a full section of track. I would think that the 22" r should also. The 18" r snap switches that I have in a package just say “snap switch” down the side, no reference to radius, but the 22" weren’t being sold when I got them. Would think that the new ones would say 22’ r somewhere to let the buyer know the difference.
If your layout is using 22" r track, you want the 22"r snap switches. If you haven’t opened the packages, hopefully you can return them. If you can’t, you can still use them on industrial sidings which often have sharper curves.
Not sure if the tangent track on the 22"r is 9" like the 18"r or not.
Good luck,
Richard
Did you order on-line? Did you keep a copy of the order form? Do you have the part number for the snap switches you ordered? Who did you order your parts from?
In the Atlas track plan book it is normal to have a snap switch leading into a 22" curve. If you are building the track by the layout plan, did the plan call for 22" curve? If you ordered your track by the track part list for the layout plan you should be fine.
Chances are the “snap switches” your layout specified are the ones with a 15"R diverging side that can be increased to 18"R if you use the extra little 1/3 radius piece on the diverging side.
The 22"R diverging curved “snap switches” ARE relatively new. SO you may have bought them, but chances are you need the 15-18"R ones.
Your main question {highlighted in red} is that while it may LOOK distorted and you think that OK, it is the OPERATIONS that will get you!! YOur trains will likely derail there often because the track is Skewed.
As someone said, if you have the part numbers you ordered you will know what you have and maybe you can return them to get hte right “snap switch”.
The traditional Atlas ‘Snap-Switch’ is 18" radius through the curve and that 1/3 curve included is also 18" radius. All of the Atlas track plan books that inducate using a ‘Snap-Switch’ are using the 18" radius ones. These are available in code 100 rail with black tines. They are available in manual or remote throw. I just check the Atlas web site and they do not list 22" radies code 100 Snap-Switches there.
Code 83 rail/brown ties Snap-Switches are available in 18" and 22" radius from what I have seen. Again, they are available in manual or remote throw.
Jim
When I get back home and have access to my layout book I’ll check; it does have part #'s on it, so I can cross-reference them and see. It might have been asking for the 18" snaps; the layout is a mix of snaps and custom lines, and I think the book is from the 80’s or 90’s (HO Railroad Start to Finish), so it might not use the 22"
I was concerned because the majority of the Atlas version said use 22" radius so it threw me off when the Walthers 2011 Catalog said there were Atlas 22" switches.
I came home and looked at the parts list and they list part 860 and 861 which look to be for the ones labeled “snap switch,” so I have to figure they’re the 18" radius kind. The diverging tracks on most of the switches in the layout are attached to 1" or 9" track, so I don’t think I’m going to have a problem.
Yes the Atlas part number is for the 18R" radius code 100 track. If you don’t use the extra short piece the diverging route will "snap into a 15"R oval or siding. YUsing the extra short 1/3 piece makes it a full 18"R diverging route. See below near the bottom of the page you will see Atlas remote control switches are ALT850 & ALT851, and the manual switches are ALT 860 and ALT861:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/HOProducts2.asp?Scale=HO&Item=150TRACK100&offset=50
[:-^]
I’m using Peco turnouts, so I am not familiar with working with the Atlas ones.
However I feel that I am missing something here.
Can you please tell me HOW by lengthening a curve you can change it’s radius.
That is the way some of these answers seem to state. If the radius of a turnout is 15" then by lengthening it by a few inches does not make the radius 18". I do not understand. Please help to inform me of what I am missing. [:S]
Johnboy out…
[:-^]
I’m using Peco turnouts, so I am not familiar with working with the Atlas ones.
However I feel that I am missing something here.
Can you please tell me HOW by lengthening a curve you can change it’s radius.
That is the way some of these answers seem to state. If the radius of a turnout is 15" then by lengthening it by a few inches does not make the radius 18". I do not understand. Please help to inform me of what I am missing. [:S]
Johnboy out…
The 15" radius discussed by one poster is misleading. The traditional Snap Switch (code 100 version) had an 18" radius curved section with 20 degrees of arc. The frog was actually curved. The 10 degree piece of 18" radius - 1/3 18" radius in Atlas parlance - was included so that the Snap Switch could be substituted for a full piece(30 degree) of 18" radius track. The only issue with the substitution is the 1-1/2" straight before the curved section begins.
When Atlas made the code 83 version of the Snap Switch they apparently straightened the frog on at least some batches. My sample has a very short straight frog section. The curved section still substitutes for 20 degrees of 18" radius, which means parts of the curve in the switch are slightly sharper than 18". And there is still a 10 degree piece of 18" radius included.
The 22" radius Snap Switches are new in the past year or so. Again, the goemetry is intended to allow you to subsititute the turnout into a 22" radius curve.
When the Atlas Snap Track line was designed in the 1950s, the competition was Lionel O and O27 tubular track. Both Atlas Snap Switches and Lionel used turnouts that could be directly substituted for pieces of curved track. The advantage of the Lionel was that the curve and points started right at the end of the turnout instead of being set in 1.5". But being set in did protect the more fragile HO points from rough handling and poor joints at the turnout.
For the more “serious” model railroader, Atlas had it’s Regular Line (long gone now) and Custom-Line turnouts and flex track. These turnouts had numbere