Cutting turnouts to fit

[Anonymous]

I have Walthers 3-way turnouts that are too long for my staging area. Can they be trimmed and if so how much , without casing a loss in reliability?
john

[Anonymous]

Didn't MR have a series of articles about a year or so ago that described building a layout where they had to trim some of their switches?

I would guess you could trim the two diverging tracks almost up to the frog, and the other track almost up to where the points contact it. That would be pretty drastic though! And you would have to leave enough rail for whatever kind of rail joiners you use to fasten onto - duh.

[Anonymous]

Bill's advice is pretty sound. Be careful when cutting the rails. I would use a Rail Nippers rather than a razor saw--and by all means, _never_ a Dremel. Otherwise, you run the risk of pulling everything out of the ties.