Is there a way to reverse the bar for the old Custom Line turnouts? It's easy with the new ones, but the old ones look like the track is riveted to the throwbar.
Gene
Gene,
New rivets, or a completely new throw bar and some small screws, just like many scratch built turnouts.
Sheldon
Yeah, that's what I thought!
Gene
Gene, look at the switch points. There is a tab holding the rails down. Lift this up and slide the rail out. Do this on both sides. The bar will come out. Turn it around and side the rails back in place. That is all there is to it.
RAM,
Gene is well aware of how the NEWER Atlas turnouts work. His is asking about the older ones, ones made before the code 83 line was introduced and the throw bars upgraded on the whole line.
You know, back in the dark ages known as the 1970's and 80's, or maybe you don't know if you are younger.
Sheldon
Sorry about that. missed the word old. At 75 every is new.
Sheldon;
Have you tried CV's turnouts? They are really superb. They look good-and they work as well. Oh, they do come in in-between sizes, and that could be the answer to a lot of prayers. If you 've never seen them, do check them out.
Rich
Rich,
I built two CV turnouts, test ran some trains and promptly removed them. The detail is great, but in my opinion the points and point hinge system is too fragile, the throw bar is too fragile, complicted, and cannot be disassembed later for repair or adjustment. I must say I am not comfortable with the glued rail idea anyway.
The other problem I had was I built mine with Atlas rail and had trouble with the frogs. Afterwards I e-mailed CV only to be told I should not have used Atlas rail, as it is not compatable with the frog casting, but that info was not in the instructions. I am too heavily invested in Atlas track and rail to change now, and I am very pleased with its performance and low price.
I hand layed track years ago and can build a turnout from scratch easier and faster than the assembly of a CV turnout. But, I will stick with Atlas code 83. After they are weathered and ballasted, they look just fine.
As I have explained in other threads, I prefer the electrical characteristics of the Atlas turnouts. That is a major reason why I stopped hand laying track and turnouts. I have actually disassembed Atlas turnouts for the frogs and points and used those parts to hand lay curved turnouts with the desired electrical characteristics.
I am building a large layout with several hundred turnouts, rugged simplicity is more important than fine scale detail, not to mention price and time.
But to be fair on that note, I will mention that I am not a fan of semi-scale wheels or semi-scale couplers either. While both are nice from an appearance standpoint, they do pose problems on regular NMRA standard trackwork and if I hope to complete this layout in my lifetime, I cannot handlay all the track to semi-scale standards. And, I have actually lost interest in such obsessive aspects of the hobby.
Sheldon