I have some Atlas 2580, 2581, 2584 and 2585. Can anyone tell which ones are number 4 and number 6. Thanks.
Antiques! My experience with Atlas Snap Track is 'number 4' switches are the same length as the standard section of straight track. Number 6 switches are longer.
Had to go to the Wayback Machine to find this. 5. Made in Austria. This style is distinguished by having a metal actuator cover. This switch is well made, and its actuator is one of the smoothest and most reliable of the older styles. The actuator cover sometimes shows rust spots where the paint on the metal cover has been scratched. It is often sold new in its original cardboard box. Some boxes are yellow and orange, and others have a blue background. The rounded metal actuator cover is quite visible in the picture on the box. The box may show #2580, #2581, #2582, or #2583. If you can find the 6. below it is the best switch machine Atlas ever made. It is almost fail proof. Reason it has a SPDT internal switch that once the switch machine throws, it break the power to the coil and connects the power to the other coil.. These are compatible with the 5. above turnouts, but not the 27xx series. 6. Made in Austria. This style has an actuator that looks similar to the actuator on styles 8-10, but it has the manual button near the center and off to the side instead of directly on top near one end. The actuator is also a little larger than the ones on style 8-10.The base of this switch is the same as style 5. It is well made, and its action is smooth and reliable. If you notice this switch machine has a square button on the round body, the only one like this the Atlas made. I have replace all my turnouts with these and my failures went to zero. These are getting as scarce as hens teeth,so watch EBay, some do come up occasionally. The contacts inside might need a little cleaning if they have not been used for a decade or so, the top cover comes off easy with an exacto knife blade, there is two small tabs you move and the top cover comes off. Do not need to remove it off the turnout or of the layout. Still can be operated with the cover off. If you want to see all the styles of Atlas switch machine here is the link. https://web.archive.org/web/2014072...hes-Turnouts-Detail-/10000000175276916/g.html Hope this help P.S. If buying these on Ebay, if you cannot see the square button in the photos, DO NOT BUY IT.
The #4s aren't really #4s anyway. They would actually be a greater number than that IF they were a number switch. They are a switch with a curved diverting track equal to a 19" radius piece of track which, BTW is included with each switch. If you compare the frog angle between an Atlas "#4" and #6 switch, they aren't really that much different with the #6 angle being slightly shallower. Doug
I don't understand what you are trying to say. What's not 19" in N? And what is more equivalent to 22" in HO? 12" radius in N would be close to 22" radius in HO according to conventional wisdom although I'm not sure I agree with conventional wisdom. I mean, a 19" radius curve is a 19" radius curve, regardless of scale. The equipment may be different sizes but when a loco is leaving a straight section of track into a curved section, it's going into the same radius curve no matter what the scale. Doug
What I'm saying is, an Atlas "number 4" (actually, to scale, about 4 1/2, as you quite correctly pointed out) turnout with a portion of an Atlas 22" curved section attached to the curved leg exactly replace a full Atlas 22" radius curve section. Furthermore, an old Athearn FP-45, which won't negotiate an 18" radius curve to save its life, will pass through that curved leg at 85 scale miles per hour. And an Atlas N scale "number 4", which is also about a 4 1/2 to its own different scale, has a radius closer to (or possibly exactly) 11".
In N scale the 19" radius track, supplied with the switch will, when connected to the curved track, bring the curved track back to parallel with the straight track.
