Bad planning and a very tight HO gauge layout - that’s my problem. I need, believe it or not, a curved turnout with a 15" (yes, 15") interior radius and a 16" (yes, 16") exterior radius - preferably in Code 100, though I could go with Code 83 . And, to go with the rest of the system, this turnout needs to be of the insul-frog type.
I recall but cannot find reference to a company that makes custom turnouts without, strangely, ties. Alternatively, reference to some articles or publications specializing in hand-laid turnouts would be helpful. They might prompt me to try to custom build such an unusual machine - or kitbash an Atlas snap switch or a Peco unit.
Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated.
Since I would suspect that a custom builder would be reluctant to provide such a tight turnout and have to guarantee its operation, I would build such a turnout myself. It’s not that hard. Look on the Fast Tracks website to learn more. Also check out Joe Fugate’s website as he has a rather detailed step-by-step discussion with pictures on how to do this. When I first started working on my current layout, I followed the Joe Fugate method to build my first few turnouts. However, I soon discovered that I really didn’t need the extra expense of the Central Valley turnout tie kits, especially on unusual turnouts like a 22" radius “wye” I needed. I found that if I drew the required turnout to exact scale size on a piece of paper, I could then use that drawing as a guide/template to build the turnout. Look at the Fast Tracks and/or Joe Fugate web sites to help you place the PC board ties as well as to understand where to cut the frog gaps. I also prefer the continuous rail design of these turnouts as it eliminates the two rail joints of the point rail pivots. I fill in between the PC ties with ties I make from .060" by .100" styrene strip and glue to the underside of the rails with CA. Its fun to do and you get the satifaction of saying, “I built that!”
If you enter “definitely not patented” (quotation marks included) in the search block, then go to the bottom entry of the little blue list, you will find my detailed description of the method I use to hand-lay turnouts to MY track geometry. It’s applicable to any scale, gauge or size of rail.
Hand-laying an insulated frog (“Insulfrog” is a Peco trade name) is fussier than laying a solid, hot frog. My own building doesn’t use them - and a curved turnout with radii that close may end up with a rather high numbered frog. The higher the number, the longer the ‘no pickup’ gap will be. My inclination would be to get creative with a piece of styrene to replace the metal frog point - but I couldn’t really describe how. The alternative is to build a ‘hot’ frog and power it through contacts on whatever moves the points. That also requires electrical gaps in the rails leading to the frog point.
Be careful about getting started down the hand-laying route. It’s addictive…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - on hand-laid specialwork)
You might try a Central Valley turnout kit. They can be curved. I build them using an all rail frog. The biggest downside is the throw bar but any number of home made bars will work great. My earliest ones were wood ties with thin brass shims soldered to the points and epoxied to the wood throw bar. On others I had soldered brass pins to the points and used a styrene throw bar. All are still going strong using hand throws from caboose industries.
While your turnout is quite tight, it my be possible to alter a regular turnout to fit. I have done this in Shinohara code 70 where I hade to make a curved turnout match a Walthers car float apron (that was ment to take a Y before it instead of a curved), also it was tight as the end of the line and a switching area. Worked great!!! Word of advise though, practice on a throw away turnout first till you find the right ties to cut and the right ones to take away. Also you may have to alter the points.
Some pretty good advice on options so far. The tight radius on both legs you need is going to make some of them tricky to apply in this situation.
I would just add to what was noted above, you’re going to be a lot better off making this a hot frog, rather than insulated frog. Curved turnouts tend to have relatively long frogs, so it’s trickier to insulate them anyway without ending up with a long dead section. It will also be a structurally weaker turnout. IMO, better to power the frog and switch polarity IMO. It’ll operate better, too.
Here’s one custom builder I can recommend, Steve Hatch of Railway Engineering:
Due to some family health problems, he’s just relocated from N. California to Arizona. This will cause a bit of a backup, but he can probably tell you what time-frame you’re looking at.