Curved code 83 turnouts


phatpony

Member
Ummm, is there such a thing? I was planning to have a few on my layout but I can't find any anywhere. I designed the layout on XTrkCad and drew them from the Peco library (code 100, the was nothing for 83), and now I may a bit screwed. Shinohara has them for everything but code 83, and Peco has them in code 100 and 75. I really really want to run with code 83, definately not code 100 except in the under layout staging. I may be stuck with code 75 Peco. Arrrrggghhh....:mad:

Glenn

p.s. I'm going to see if Micro Engineering has them....:confused:
 
if nothing you can use kits for curvable turnouts. I know it might be a tad laborish, but...
 
Code 83 curved turnouts

I have about six curved turnout #7-#8 both left and right. They are Walthers
and are DCC ready and I have been very pleased with them.

Dick Foster
 
gate5 said:
I have about six curved turnout #7-#8 both left and right. They are Walthers
and are DCC ready and I have been very pleased with them.

Dick Foster

I didn't see any on their website. Are they in the catalog?

I'm afraid if I lay my own I will like it, thereby creating another facet of the hobby I will labor to master;)

Glenn
 
Thanks Rex. Man, at $30 a pop I'll go broke. Peco code 100 I have found for $15, and the code 75 is a little less than that. I may have to rethink the code rail to build with. Bummer.

Josh, thanks for the links. I have found slightly better pricing on other sites though. That one link wants to sell you a membership for $50 to get the "good" price. I can find that pricing elsewhere without being a member.

Anybody still hand lay track?

Glenn
 
Glenn, I don't buy direct from Walthers and pay their prices in less I just have to . It's best to check sites like Internet Trains, Discount Trains, or one of the many other online stores for a 20-25% discount. I was just showing you that they do make them.;) :) http://www.discounttrainsonline.com...ectrical-Walthers-Shinohara/HO_TRK_948_1.html

Also, if you run DCC you will find things easier if you get "DCC Friendly" turnouts. Peco's code 83 are not 100% DCC friendly even though that say they are and I don't think the code 100 is at all. Peco's are very well built and look pretty good otherwise. The Peco code 83 still is "power routing" which could be a problem for you depending on your design.

I use Atlas Flex Code 83 for my track and Walthers and Atlas for my turnouts. I don't like Atlas #4's. Every one of them that I have bought is crooked as a snake.
 
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Yeah Rex, I found them for a little bit less at the link you gave me. They are steep in price still. I was able to re-draw my layout using these instead, and to be honest, they look like they will work better. I was able to reduce the number of curved turnouts from 7 down to 4, and now I'm thinking about a few different ideas with my layout design. I guess it will be ever changing until I lay the last spike.

Glenn

p.s. as far as Peco and DCC, from what I have read, the new ones have no problem with being DCC friendly, the older ones (as well as the older Shinohara) had a few minor issues, but were easily fixed.
 
p.s. as far as Peco and DCC, from what I have read, the new ones have no problem with being DCC friendly, the older ones (as well as the older Shinohara) had a few minor issues, but were easily fixed.

Uh...this is true as far as, "...can be made DCC friendly", but I'm not sure about being no problem to do.

I have only worked with Peco's new code 83 Insulfrog and they come with little jumpers before the frog that you have to cut to have a 'dead' frog. If you do this, the frog is dead for a considerable distance that may cause a short wheel base loco to lose power while going through the frog. I instead, left the jumpers in place and took my Dremmel and cut closer to the frog.

If you want a powered frog, they provide an already wired jumper for you to hook up to a switch to change up the polarities when the turnout is set to the diverging route. This is nice if you want power routing and a 'hot' frog, but this is not considered DCC friendly. There are many arguements about using powered frogs, but all come down to the big word of "IF". If all your loco and rolling stock wheels are in gauge and the track is in gauge, you won't have a short.

Again, the Peco Insulfrog is power routing meaning that if your switcher goes into a two foot siding to do some work and the turnout is put back into the mainline position, your track is dead. This may be desirable, but if not you will have to power that short section of track with feeders just for that reason. A good place for power routing is a Switcher pocket to park your switcher and then throw the turnout and the power is off to it. Same for lighted passenger cars.

Now, please don't get me wrong here. Peco turnouts are very well made and look good. It all comes down to what you want to do with a turnout and how much modification work you are willing to make. The early Walthers Shinohara were a real pain to convert to DCC...a real big pain. The new Walthers and Atlas are now 100% DCC friendly, with the accepted meaning that the frog is dead and the correct polarity of power is always fed through to the staight and diverging route via built-in jumpers. All you have to do with them is put them in and you are ready to go. Besides, Atlas is cheaper than Walthers that is cheaper than Peco. (code 83)

The dilemma of code 83 cost versus code 100 cost is always present, but keep in mind that code 83 is much more prototypical in scale and really does look better on a layout.
 
phatpony said:
Thanks Rex. Man, at $30 a pop I'll go broke. Peco code 100 I have found for $15, and the code 75 is a little less than that. I may have to rethink the code rail to build with. Bummer.

Josh, thanks for the links. I have found slightly better pricing on other sites though. That one link wants to sell you a membership for $50 to get the "good" price. I can find that pricing elsewhere without being a member.

Anybody still hand lay track?

Glenn
rrtrains.com does charge $50 but the high ticket items are the pay off, they just sold of some Kato SD70MAC's for $42... It pays out over time.
 



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