Hi, my name is Phil from Sydney Australia and I am planning my next layout (no. 5).
This time I am planning to working for the first time with Peco code 83 and using electrofrogs.
My previous layouts have been code 100 and a mix of electro and insulfrogs.
It is Santa Fe mid 50’s with late steam early diesel, mainly 40ft freight, heavy weight and streamline passenger (eg:El Capitan with F3’s and 7’s up to E9’s and 4-8-4’s)
I am planning a layout about 9 metres (27ft) by 4 metres (12ft) single track main line loop to loop, minimum radius 36", where it doubles back over it self to an upper level, based on the UTE SHORT LINE from a 1969 (MRR I believe). The main yard is based on the flat classification yards - condensed model versions from "track planning for realistic operation"and I have allocated about 5.5 metres (16ft+) for them.
My question is what size turnouts should I use for the yards?
I have purchased a number of #8 which I plan to use for main line and passing tracks.
How small should I go?
Should they be different (larger), for passenger than freight?
Should I consider code 100 for the main line?
I would appreciate any feed back as it is still on paper at this stage, with the idea of starting benchwork in the next couple of months.
I would stay with #8 for passenger yards, but you could go #6 (or even #5) for the freight yard. Appearance is better with the larger numbered turnouts, but the trade off is capacity in the yards. Code 83 mainline is fine for this era, code 100 is a little large. You could use code 70 for the industrial spurs for a little contrast.
Depends on how finicky you are, or how much of a stickler you are, for looks. In most cases, it only matters at the pocket book. If you ballast and weather everything well, and match rail heights carefully, it will only be in close-up imagery that a person can tell.
As for the numbers of turnouts, I have Peco Streamline Code 83 insulfrog #6 turnouts in my yard exclusively and they do just marvey. I can drive any engine, simple or compound, and heavyweight passenger cars through them easily, and they look good…even through a hand laid double-slip. If you’d like to capitalize on the space, then #6’s will be eminently suitable.
For my new Westport yard I’ve used Peco code 83 turnouts, #6, for the classification tracks. At my operation site you can see this yard in use. It works without problems. But I changed the Peco turnouts a little bit to get better power contact. You see it here. I followed Allan Gartner’s Wirring for DCC.
Honestly, a no. 4 1/2 should work with pretty much anything in a freight yard for that era, so the Peco no. 5s would be more than adequate. Use no. 6s in the coach yard, but you might want to try no. 5s there, too. Sticking to the low numbers saves you a lot of space. No. 8s look nice as high speed crossovers, but aren’t really operationally necessary.
Best thing to do is build a small test setup and try it out.
My own little yard uses Snap-Switches (18" radial) and Atlas no. 4 1/2 and works quite well with my steam era freight cars. Athearn shorty streamliners and longer 50-60’ freight cars work fine, too, although the ones I have are really too new for my era.
I use #8’s exclusively. I run mostly passenger equipment and large steam engine. But I use them everywhere. On mainline I would suggest using #8’s because I think they are perfect their, the extra space should rarely make a difference. On passenger yards I would suggest #8’s but I would not go lower then #6’s on freight yards either. Who knows what you’ll end up wanting to run and then to find that the entire design fails due to this.
I plan to shorten my #8’s as much as possible in my yards to squeeze in a bit extra. That should be fine.