Peco rail joiners revisited

[Dave K]

I am in the process of replacing all of my Atlas #4 and 6 turnouts with PECO medium and long radius turnouts.  I am using mostly Atlas flex track and Atlas joiners with the Atlas track.  However, I am using Peco joiners on the Peco turnouts since they are smaller and slip on to the turnouts without damaging the plastic ties.  I find the Peco joiners difficult to work with.  I recently purchased two packages of the Peco joiners from Amazon and most of them were so badly pinched together that I could not get them to start on the rails.

[riogrande5761]

I'vw been using Peco joiners on my Peco code 83 track (joiners for that rail) and they work great and are not hard to put on at all.

[selector]

Dave, to save your fingertips and a lot of aggravation, you'll have to 'dress' the ends of your Atlas rails.  Many of us do that anyway, no matter which joiners and rails we're using, but if you're using Peco joiners you must file the foot of the 'other' rails thinner and put a bit of a taper toward the end.  So, a flat needle file, and scrub the tops and bottoms of the foot of the rail to help the joiner to get purchase and be shoved back properly.  Yeah, it takes more time, but what job well done in our hobby doesn't?

[maxman]

selector

Dave, to save your fingertips and a lot of aggravation, you'll have to 'dress' the ends of your Atlas rails.  Many of us do that anyway, no matter which joiners and rails we're using, but if you're using Peco joiners you must file the foot of the 'other' rails thinner and put a bit of a taper toward the end.  So, a flat needle file, and scrub the tops and bottoms of the foot of the rail to help the joiner to get purchase and be shoved back properly. 

Yes, and use a small pair of needle nose pliers to shove the joiner on.  Won't puncture as easily as a finger.