I once read that commercial turnouts are built to make a cross-over of 2 tracks on a scale 16 foot center (2 and 3/16" in HO). Can anyone confirm this? And is this true regardless of the frog number? What is the track spacing when turnouts are arranged one after another to make a yard ladder? For example, a LH turnout off the main track followed by 2 RH turnouts. ________________ /________________ /_________________ ______/___________________________ Thanks, Ed Knecht Fort Thomas, KY
I once heard that commercial turnouts were made for 2" track centers, requiring extra straight track in the middle of a crossover. The statement in question focused on Atlas #6s, IIRC. I wouldn't expect all brands to be the same.
I have about an inch of straight track between two #6's to give me 2 1/2". A yard ladder made with #4 end to end will give you between 2" and 2 1/4" with a little fudging!
That inch of straight track gives 1/6" of width, meaning your turnouts are designed for 2-1/3". Weird! What brand are they?
Triplex, I went and measured the straight piece today, guess it's more like 2". They are Atlas turnouts.
The Walthers / Shinohara turnouts cannot do this. I had to cut down the #6's quite severely to get them to go back-to-back on a 2 1/2" center between my main and local track. Ditto for the other track interchanges. I ended up changing the track spacing on my yard using #4's. Ended up having 4 instead of 5 sidings. Looks nice though, so I decided not to cut them down for tighter spacing. Mark in Utah
