In trying to determine which PECO turnouts to use in replacing old Atlas turnouts is it accurate
to say PECO MEDIUM is equivalent to ATKAS #6 and PECO Large is like an #8??
Any comments appreciated
JIM
I was just researching this very same issue for my layout and came across the following spreadsheet that was VERY helpful. Has all the Peco track dimensions including turnouts (radius, diverging angle, etc.) and appears to cover all scales. Hope it helps! Jamie
PECO TURNOUT DIMENSIONShttp://www.rmcq.mixedpk.com/worksheets/peco_turnout_dimensions.pdf
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jmac77 wrote: In trying to determine which PECO turnouts to use in replacing old Atlas turnouts is it accurateto say PECO MEDIUM is equivalent to ATKAS #6 and PECO Large is like an #8??Any comments appreciatedJIM
I think they are smaller than that because the older line, or British style, turnouts by Peco have full radius diverging routes...they are curved all along, and don't straighten at and beyond the frog as N. American style turnouts do. However, their new Customline oooops...I meant Streamline ones are of the style we use over here. I have #6 in my yards, and I have no reason to believe that they are not what they claim. I can run all of my engines, including a BLI 2-10-4 through them.
So, if their descriptors are "medium", I think you might be looking at the older, or at least British, style.
I checked once by holding a Peco large radius (C100) turnout against a #6 Atlas....
To my eye, they looked close to being the same radius, dimensions etc. Definitely a Peco large is not a #8.
I think a Peco medium is close to an Atlas #4.
K
thebikeroom wrote: I checked once by holding a Peco large radius (C100) turnout against a #6 Atlas....To my eye, they looked close to being the same radius, dimensions etc. Definitely a Peco large is not a #8.I think a Peco medium is close to an Atlas #4. K
K, I think you miss-spoke. In N-scale as far as I know Atlas does not have a # 4. The Peco small would be comparable to a #4. Yet the Atlas medium (#6) is very close to the Peco medium. Now the large radius Peco is close to a # 8 but I have never had the Atlas version to compare. The Peco curved are #7, if interested.
I believe the main difference between the Atlas and the Peco is the Peco's diverging route is striaght through the frog and the Atlas are curved. This may have changed over time though.
John
jmac77 wrote: In trying to determine which PECO turnouts to use in replacing old Atlas turnouts is it accurateto say PECO MEDIUM is equivalent to ATKAS #6 and PECO Large is like an #8??
In a word, no. As others have noted, the traditional PECO tunouts use a curved diverging route which is often more space-efficient than a numbered turnout, but will not be a drop-in fit.
Of course, a Walthers # 6 is not a drop-in replacement for an Atlas #6, either -- or for any other manufacturer's #6. Only the frog numbers between manufacturers are the same, the overall dimensions will differ. (Adn even the frog numbers sometimes are a little off)
Detial on the dimensions of PECO C75 and C100 HO turnouts and C55 and C80 N scale tunrouts is found here (HO's toward the bottom of the page):http://www.awrr.com/PECO.html
So you'll probably have to do some realignment of the track to replace those turnouts. The good news in using PECOs is that they are likely a little more compact, which may help.
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K, I think you miss-spoke. In N-scale as far as I know Atlas does not have a # 4. The Peco small would be comparable to a #4. Yet the Atlas medium (#6) is very close to the Peco medium. Now the large radius Peco is close to a # 8 but I have never had the Atlas version to compare
No, I did not miss-spoke....for starters, I was referencing HO scale, not N scale, as my C100 should have indicated to you.
Second I said I held an Atlas and a Peco turnout back to back, and i was describing what I saw by doing this comparison.
Thanks all. I did leave out my layout is HO Code 100 (heck I'm 77 what would you expect?)
but the info was appreciated
Jim
Well, I'm a 60-year-old youngster, but I'm using HO code 100 as well.
A Peco Medium is a reasonable substitute for an Atlas snap-switch. Yes, you'll have to do a bit of re-configuration on the diverging route, but it shouldn't be major surgery. That's why God invented flex-track, after all.
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