Hello,
has anyone ever used the new Walthers code 83 track and turnouts?
what are your thoughts?
thanks Big Mike
I like the Walthers stuff. The tie depth is shallow which will reduce ballast material required but makes mixing track brands trickier. The power feed joiners and regular metal and insulating joiners are a cut above anyone else’s for tight fit and ease of use. Walthers also makes and sells extra ties to fit under the spaces you create by trimming flex track ends, which is handy.
The #6 turnouts that are available are built for 2.75" track centres unless you trim the diverging routes. The geometry seems between the Atlas Customline or Super Switch on the one hand and ME slightly shorter product on the other.
They also have spring loaded points like Peco or ME which is handy but requires modification for most point motors including Walthers new layoit control system which seems a bit of an own goal there. I intend to try the Walthers point motors without first removing the springs and see if they work. Walthers originally claimed their motors could overcome Peco point springs which are noticeably stronger than the Walthers springs.
Nice looking product and well made. Better than ME or Atlas. Not quite as nice as Peco. But priced better than Peco.
They are like unicorns, I have not seen them yet.
Could you post pictures of your new Walthers turnouts? As I said, I have not seen the features yet.
Thanks.
Shallow “protoype profile” ties are a stupid feature.
I would prefer ties to be twice the scale thickness.
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More depth for excess glue not to flow into the tie gaps. (for you caulkers)
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More strength and rigidity in general.
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Once it is ballasted, the tie depth disappears anyway, so why not malke a more versatile and rugged product.
[soapbox] Rant Over.
-Kevin
I saw the turnouts at a hobby shop in Riverdale Ga. IMO, the geometry of the Walthers compares most directly to the PECO 83. Short distance from points to frog. But the Walthers has a lot more track beyond the frog making it an overall longer piece of track if you use them untrimmed.
I like the lack of a hinge for the points. To me, it really stands out as looking more realistic than all other brands.
I need to get back to Riverdale Station. That is a great hobby shop to visit.
I hope the owner is doing OK. The last time I talked to him he was buying a retirement property in Florida and planning to move in a couple of years.
-Kevin
The Walthers product competes directly with Peco Unifrog. Same continuous points/closure rails. Points spring in the throw bar. All live rails with no power routing (dead frog) but you can clip jumpers to restore power routing. Walthers makes their turnouts big is the main difference.
Well, the way the world works, the most recently designed stuff should always be the best on the market relative to anything designed years ago. Doesn’t always work that way though.
I like the concept of the not-too-strong sprung points and the lack of a hinge. I prefer the longer geometry of the Atlas #6, so the new Walthers is not turnout perfection for me but its really nice.
Here you go:
Some people’s children. [%-)]
If I feel that the track work requires more strength and rigidity, I add a little tadalafill to the glue/water mixture.
I bought an Atlas #6 righty and a trio of Walthers #6 lefties, all of them new Code 83. Not sure why, but on one of the Walthers turnouts some of my older DC engines hiccup just a bit. They go through, but they just get a quick hitch in their git-along. No troubles with the Atlas or the other two Walthers so far. Kind of annoying. I expected my little booster 0-4-0 to have trouble reaching over the frog, but I was surprised that some of my F-7s balked there. They sure look good, though, with the no hinges.
I Googled that while my wife was talking to me.
Thanks.
[oX)]
-Kevin
Here are photos of two of my new Walthers code 83 #6 lefties – the ones that are behaving well. I put a short piece between them because the direct handshake would have been too close in this case. I need to get the track away from the main to be able to get some wide curves into my yard lead.
@Lastspikemike, that explains why the joint seemed “off” between the rails of the Walthers turnout and the Atlas curved turnouts just beyond them in the pic below. Thanks for pointing that out. I just looked, and sure enough, the Atlas ties are taller, which makes just a bit of a stumble there.
-Matt
Edit: For some reason, photos I’m hosting on my old blog are behaving in such a way that the first time you click on them here, they open in a small frame, not full size. If you close that and click the image again, it opens full resolution. Don’t know why. Wordpress voodoo.
Thank you.
I do like the “no hinge” look, and the throwbar looks pretty good too. They certainly do look better than my older Walthers/Shinohara code 83s.
-Kevin
I was looking for Shinoharas on ebay for those curves, but I could’nae find them. I think Shinohara was the only curved turnout that actually stated the outside radius as 24", which is what I wanted. The alternative was a sharper curve, which wouldn’t work when I want to bring passenger trains into a station at the yard.
I eventually had to go with Atlas turnouts that are 30" radius on the outside, which meant a longer curve into the yard (and alas, shorter yard tracks) and as I mentioned, it forced me to realign the yard lead curve so that I had to break off from parallel with the main.
Walthers new curved turnouts are due August this year, 24" inside and 28" outside radius which will be tighter than Peco or Atlas.
Those are judiciously chosen radii and should prove very useful in layout design.
Atlas is 22/30 which is both too tight and too broad.
Peco #7 are broader yet. Outside radius is just over 1 meter which is about 40". They don’t publish the tighter radius.
Wish I’d known that before I spent 60 clams on those big 30-inchers. The Atlas 24/30s are taking up quite a bit of space. I haven’t soldered any part of the yard yet, so if they really do show up soon I could redo my cork and have a shorter lead and still have my outside track be at least 24" for the passenger trains.
Atlas inside curve is 22" which is noticeable when trying to run some six axle stuff. Walthers heavyweights spring to mind.
The new Walthers curved turnouts sound similar to the Walthers/Shinohara #7 curved turnouts, and they are even larger than the Atlas curved turnouts.
When the two “effective radius” of the curved turnout become closer to one another, the entire turnout becomes longer because of how much more rail is required between the point tips and the frog.
-Kevin
I’ve owned every Walthers Shinohara curved turnout from the 6.5, 7, 7.5, and 8. Once the turnout gets really long, its use becomes limited. The tracks are so narrow that it takes many inches to separate them to where the siding becomes useful. Its almost just as handy to put in a #6 straight turnout.
I think the places that a long curved turnout can be used are really not that frequent.
The sharper curved turnouts are more useful because space is already at a premium on layouts with 22 and 24 inch radius curves.
IIRC, despite their advertisment, the radii of the 6.5 thru 8 are…24/20, 28/24, 32/28 and 36/32. That 8 is really long that a person can find alternatives within that same amount of real estate.