turnout dimensions

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Have been playing with RTS 7.0 for HO layout designs and have also checked into Xtrkcad 4.0.1.

Is there info somewhere showing turnout dimensions that I can load into Xtrkcad?

Thanks

Ken

2

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/794265/ShowPost.aspx

Hi. I did a search with “dimensions of turnouts” in the space provided at the bottom of this page and found the link above. There are many other such discussions, and you may find your answer there.

3

For what turnouts? Have you loaded the XtrkCad parameter files?

Also refer to this thread:

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1252395/ShowPost.aspx

4

I’m under the assumption that a #4 is a #4 regardless of brand. Same with a #6 and so on. Is this correct?

RTS seems to produce alignment issues with turnouts and from what I read XTRKCAD is more accurate. I understand that getting the actual layout laid EXACTLY as drawn is 99.9% impossible but I’d like a bit more accuracy when I place the turnouts.

The previous post linked to another thread about a Yahoo group link. The last post in that thread said those were european turnouts. To be honest I could not identify a klingnon turnout compared with those available in North America. Are they from across the great pond?

5

The older style Peco turnouts are British style…perhaps also common in continental Europe, but I don’t know…where the diverging route is a full radius curve all the way along that diverging route. A N. American style turnout, which the newer Code 83 Streamline Pecos are, are curved only from the points to the frog, and then they become tangent track. So, it depends on which type of turnout you select to input to the trackplan from your CAD library.

So, I’m afraid a #4 is not a #4 across commercial turnouts, and that is true for even the N. American manufacturers. I have read here, for example, that the Atlas #4 is really a #4.5, or maybe I am wrong and it is the Bachmann EZ-Track one…no matter, you get the point that labels and their analog’s conformity to the NMRA guidelines/standards for turnouts in a scale do not alway jive.

So, you will need the latest library function for your CAD program, and that should do the trick if you are selecting the right turnout from the right manufacturer from the right scale.

6

Thanks, I 'll start researching what librarys are available.

Thanks again

Ken

7

See this material for RTS Atlas info

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1217516/ShowPost.aspx

See this site for libraries

http://www.winrail.com/

Have fun

8

XtrkCad comes with many, includig NMRA dimensioned turnouts. You load the parameter files with:

File, Parameter Files, Browse, dirdctory is params.