As others have already said, there is nothing written in stone, but here are two turnout thoughts that I have seen in Model Railroader articles...
[1] The "article layouts" generally have #6 turnouts for the mainline, and #4 turnouts for the industrial sidings - look in those little layout article side-boxes at layout statistics.
[2] Turnouts that become Crossovers really are "S-Curves!" The smoother the transition into and throughout these crossover-turnout situations the better. So, a #6 turnout would be preferrable over a #4 turnout with less stress on the couplers going through the crossover.
Example 1: You could have a #6 turnout on the mainline switching into the yard ladder with #4 turnouts in the yard ladder.
Example 2: If your module has very limited space then #4 turnouts may be your turnout of choice.
Example 3: A 1950s-era 40' freight car will respond easier to a #4 turnout than a 60' modern-era freight car would respond to that same #4 turnout.
Generally, your common sense will be the ultimate judge of what is best.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Indeed, and I can point to places where recently we intentionally put a turnout in a curve and others where we used the diverging route of the turnout for the main track, and the straight-rail route for the siding -- both of which are supposed to be verboten.
If you're look to the prototype for justification for an exception to the typical for your model railroad, look hard enough and you'll find just about anything. It really boils down to whether you want your model railroad to represent a reasonable interpretation of the real thing. In real railroading you have to know the rule to know when it's appropriate to break it.
S. Hadid
1435mm wrote: N-BNSFRR wrote: Hi there fellow Model Railroaders. I am working on a module in N-scale and I am at a standstill on which Number turnouts(ie. number 4, 6 ect.) I should use to match prototype specs. Are turnout specs. specific to yards as far as which number to use? I am building a garbege transfer and recycling facility that will acomodate about 20 to 30 60' wood chip cars and 50' high side thrall mill gondolas that would typically be used for coal but are in big demand in the trash moving industry.If anybody has any info that can help me, i would appreciate your help. The mininum turnout size today for new industry track that a Class I will switch is #9, and in some cases #11. S. Hadid
N-BNSFRR wrote: Hi there fellow Model Railroaders. I am working on a module in N-scale and I am at a standstill on which Number turnouts(ie. number 4, 6 ect.) I should use to match prototype specs. Are turnout specs. specific to yards as far as which number to use? I am building a garbege transfer and recycling facility that will acomodate about 20 to 30 60' wood chip cars and 50' high side thrall mill gondolas that would typically be used for coal but are in big demand in the trash moving industry.If anybody has any info that can help me, i would appreciate your help.
Hi there fellow Model Railroaders.
I am working on a module in N-scale and I am at a standstill on which Number turnouts(ie. number 4, 6 ect.) I should use to match prototype specs. Are turnout specs. specific to yards as far as which number to use? I am building a garbege transfer and recycling facility that will acomodate about 20 to 30 60' wood chip cars and 50' high side thrall mill gondolas that would typically be used for coal but are in big demand in the trash moving industry.
If anybody has any info that can help me, i would appreciate your help.
The mininum turnout size today for new industry track that a Class I will switch is #9, and in some cases #11.
I guess the Union Pacific isn't a Class I, because they laid some industrial track with rails dated 2000 and frogs labeled #7 in North Las Vegas, NV.
(I know! Surprised me, too. I always thought #8 was dead minimum.)
As for the original question, #6 would be the preferred minimum for 60 foot cars with body mounted couplers. If your cars have truck mounted couplers they will handle #4, but will look seriously ugly doing so.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in 1:80 scale)
N-BNSFRR wrote:Hi there fellow Model Railroaders. I am working on a module in N-scale and I am at a standstill on which Number turnouts(ie. number 4, 6 ect.) I should use to match prototype specs. Are turnout specs. specific to yards as far as which number to use? I am building a garbege transfer and recycling facility that will acomodate about 20 to 30 60' wood chip cars and 50' high side thrall mill gondolas that would typically be used for coal but are in big demand in the trash moving industry.If anybody has any info that can help me, i would appreciate your help.
Common practice for Class I railroads today:
#9 -- Industry and yard
#11 -- Yard leads and yard receiving/departure tracks
#14 or #15 -- set-out tracks, controlled sidings
#20 or #24 -- controlled sidings, controlled crossovers, end of two main tracks
#30 -- high-speed controlled crossovers
You're not going to find any that are "prototypical" really. They're just too big in the real world to be practical for us. #6's & #7's are good for most things. #4's & #5's if you need to save space or fo industrial trackage and stuff. Atlas just came out with #10's in their code 55 line that look great on the main. If you're doing really old time stuff, like 1800's or maybe logging, then Peco has stub turnouts that can be used. I guess you could use those for traction too.