I'm designing/building an N scale layout. There's a spot were I could use either an Atlas #10 turnout or a #3.5 Wye. The location is not easily accessible. Can the Wye be remotely thrown? And, are there any other pros or cons to using the #10 vs. the wye?
Thanks Mudekk
The wye is equivalent to a #7 turnout, so the #10 could be slightly easier for trains to negotiate, depending on how the adjoining tracks curve. But either should be fine for just about anything you wish to run. The #10 wll be slightly larger.
Either turnout may be powered remotely.
No matter how large the turnout number, problems are more likely at turnouts. It might be worth looking at your plans again to see if you can better solve the access issues by moving things around.
Best of luck.
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Mudekk I'm designing/building an N scale layout. There's a spot were I could use either an Atlas #10 turnout or a #3.5 Wye. The location is not easily accessible. Can the Wye be remotely thrown? And, are there any other pros or cons to using the #10 vs. the wye?
That would be an interesting location since the two switches are HUGELY different in alignment and the angles of divergence. They are not directly interchangeable. There would have to be significant changes in the tracks approaching the switch to swap between the two.
A #3.5 wye would have both legs diverge away from the approach at an angle equivalent to a #7 switch (ratio of 7:1), while a #10 switch has one leg only diverging at a ratio of 10:1.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Personally, I would favour the wye. If you know how to lay turnouts in place so that they align well with the joining tracks, if those tracks are well laid and anchored in place, if your rail ends are all dressed with a flat file, if your turnout is a good one that is well adjusted for points sharpness, and if it won't wobble when encountered by an engine (meaning it is firmly supported), then all you have to worry about in that remote place is that you have a decent switch motor and can read the points alignment...no guessing.
You can make your remote trackwork bulletproof. I have 6 feet hidden in one tunnel, hardly accessible at all, and another 7 feet in another where access is a bit of pain, but there. Not a single derailment in either tunnel...ever. Just know what you are doing, and do it right. Let your can motors, gauged wheelsets, and adjusted couplers do the rest.
-Crandell
In a previous layout I had a problem spot where a no.8 turnout kept causing derailments. I adjusted the trackage slightly and fit in a no.4 wye turnout. From then on there were no problems. I assume the issue had to do with a high number switch having a fairly long moving section, whereas a corresponding wye's would only be half as long.