I’m just getting back into HO railroads after a 25 year absence. I’ve been reading every book that folks on this forum recommend to all the other newbies. I think I’ve settled on a plan from Kalmbach Books, 101 Track Plans, and have been transferring all the track into XTrkCad. I’m having a lot of trouble trying to get the yard trackwork right. The book says that the turnouts are all #6’s, but don’t specify which brand. In the cad program there are many choices. I’ve been trying the plain and simple Atlas one’s and have questions about the types. Atlas turnouts listed are: 505 #6 C83 Super; 283 #6 Mark 3. Also not designated as #6 or any other size: 540 C83 Snap switch; 850 Snap switch. I’ll be using code 83 track. Has anyone used any of these plans from the book or know which turnouts should be used? Thanks for any help.
xtrkcad SHOULD specify which one it is… at least for Atlas, they are usually labelled as “Customline #6 Right” or “Atlas SnapSwitch #6 right”… brand should not matter too much as #6 is #6 no matter what…
only difference between brands will be quality of the construction, and even there its not too much different between brands…
NeO6874- If I use a right-hand turnout for example: XTrkcad list 5 different choices for Atlas-
- #4 Mark 3
- #6 Mark 3
- #6 C83 Super
- no # - Snap switch
- no # - C83 snap switch
Excluding the #4’s I’ve laid each of the others over each and the #6 Mark 3 and the C83 super appear to be pretty close to each other, the rest are different.