Anyone using code 83 DCC friendly Shinohara turnouts?

[Anonymous]

Update after testing:

My experience is almost the same as Ray's after testing. All of my stuff, 2-8-0, shays etc will creep reliably through the un- powered frog in the curved turnouts...Excellent.

[howmus]

I just bought two #7 1/2 curved Shinohara switches. One has been installed in the layout and so far works beautifully! I added power to the frog using the micro switch and piano wire thingy from: http://www.wiringfordcc.com/switches.htm (near the bottom of the page, you will have to scroll down a ways). When adjusted correctly, they work like a charm and are not hard to build. I will be making 20 or 30 more for the frogs on my layout. Yes the frog is metal and can be soldered. It is one of the most realistic looking switches that I have seen (the Atlas of which I have many have the black section at the frog and looks so.......... uhm........ Toy like?)

[Anonymous]

RE Testing: I will let you know. I am about a week out from there. I have 21 feeders to solder, eight throwbars to set, Seven gaps to cut and I have to move the DCC unit to its permanent home. After that I can wire it up and test. I'll keep you posted.

[electrolove]

Can you please tell me when you have tested the Walthers/Shinohara curved turnouts. I'm very interested in the result.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Trainnut1250

To answer questions: Yes the turnouts have metal frogs. Both the Shinohara and the Micro Engineering come with metal frogs. In the DCC Friendly version, the frog is dead and the stock and closure rails are hard wired together. The Micro Engineering provides a "solder pad" on the bottom of the frog to solder a lead for powering the frog if you desire to do so. To solder to the Shinohara/Walthers frog you have to cut through some plastic on the bottom.

Currently I am running the turnouts with the frogs dead. I have soldered leads to them in case the contact deteriorates and I want to power them. All of my recent plastic steam and a couple of smaller diesels have no problems creeping through the unpowered frogs. As the layout is new, I am installing the feeder wires as extra insurance. We will see how things are after ballasting, painting and age take their toll.

I should mention that I am talking code 83 and 70 No 6 turnouts here. I have installed four Walthers/Shinohara curved turnouts and they have a much larger dead frog. I have not tested these yet to see how they work. The unpowered section is large enough that I suspect I will be utilizing my feeders on these switches.

[Anonymous]

To answer questions: Yes the turnouts have metal frogs. Both the Shinohara and the Micro Engineering come with metal frogs. In the DCC Friendly version, the frog is dead and the stock and closure rails are hard wired together. The Micro Engineering provides a "solder pad" on the bottom of the frog to solder a lead for powering the frog if you desire to do so. To solder to the Shinohara/Walthers frog you have to cut through some plastic on the bottom.

Currently I am running the turnouts with the frogs dead. I have soldered leads to them in case the contact deteriorates and I want to power them. All of my recent plastic steam and a couple of smaller diesels have no problems creeping through the unpowered frogs. As the layout is new, I am installing the feeder wires as extra insurance. We will see how things are after ballasting, painting and age take their toll.

I should mention that I am talking code 83 and 70 No 6 turnouts here. I have installed four Walthers/Shinohara curved turnouts and they have a much larger dead frog. I have not tested these yet to see how they work. The unpowered section is large enough that I suspect I will be utilizing my feeders on these switches.

[johncolley]

Modern diesels have all-wheel pickup so if one end passes over a dead spot...no worries, mate! Older equipment may have a problem depending on the length of dead spot vs length of wheelbase

[Anonymous]

Guy:

How do the diesels creep over the isolated frog of the ME switch/turnout? Do you leave the frogs unpowered?

Andre

[Anonymous]

I chose Shinohara turnouts for their realistic appearance. However, in hidden areas I use Atlas auto/remotes...cheap, cheap cheap...but to date, reliable. The Shinohara double slip doesn't like my older locos but is fine with newer (rp-25) wheel sets. I agree that plastic frogs aren't great for endurance but then, I have an aversion to plastic railroading in general [just a persoanl thing, sorry]. My ancient Bowser Mountain (lost wax brass casting) simply does not traverse the dbl. slip. That is the price I pay for great looking trackage mixed with with older "classics." Im running D.C. on this HO garage layout so can't attest to DCC performance with Shinohara. Seems to me there shouldn't be a probem..."on paper." Regards

[Anonymous]

Trainnut1250,
So I assume the frog is metal? I am looking to buy turnouts and
will never again buy those with plastic frog. I have some from atlas and their frogs are destroyed by constant running of my long trains.

[Anonymous]

Yes I am using them. Yes you can install them without any extra wiring. Yes, locos will creep reliably through them. I only have recent steam with good electrical pick up. Not sure about older brass or older steam with short wheel bases.

I am doing two modifications to mine. I am soldering the points to the closure rails and I am soldering a feeder to the frog. I solders the points to avoid stalls when the points no longer make good electrical contact with the stock rails. I might use the feeders later on if the electrical contact should become sketchy through the frog. Since the frog is unpowered, I am hoping to get away without having to use the feeders. While it is extra work, it is much easier to do this stuff now rather than go back an retro fit later.

To be honest, I like the look of the Micro Engineering turnouts a lot better and am using them for all my No. 6's. I'm only using Shinohara for the stuff I can't get from Micro Engineering (curved switches, wyes).

[NZRMac]

Another member rexhea has them I think they are code 83. I'm sure he wouldn't mind an email from you.

Ken.

[electrolove]

When I look at Whalter's homepage I can see that Shinohara have code 83 DCC friendly turnouts.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=948&split=30&start=30

Must I do some additional wiring to use these turnout's or can I just install them and run? If someone is using these please tell me if they work good, if a train can pass without problems at low speed and so on. I'm interested in everything there is to know about these turnout's.

Thanks in advance.