Hi, I am thinking of getting some Peco switches and I am wondering if Peco rail has a significantly different width from ME rail. Will Peco rail joiners fit on ME rail easily? or vice-versa: will ME joiners fit on Peco rail easily? I am working with Code 83 rail.
I saw on someone's blog that Atlas rail was much wider than Peco and his Peco joiners wouldn't fit on the Atlas rail. This made me a bit nervous and I would like some more info before I buy. Any help is appreciated!
I regularly mix rail of different brands and codes. The only thing you have to do is make sure the rail head and inside surfaces match reasonably well so wheels will go smoothly. If the rail head is of different heights, you can use transition joiners offered by Atlas or make your own. Those are simply metal rail joiners which have a space in the middle with a slight step in them so the bottom of one rail can be different than the one it connects to, allowing the top surface to remain level. You also may need to shim one rail to maintain that surface, as necessary. Old business cards work well for shimming for me.
I freely mix code 100 Peco turnouts with Atlas turouts, Shinohara turnouts and Atlas flex track - thats my staging yard. That will transition to code 83 for the visible mainline and the visible yard will have code 83 Atlas turnouts, Walthers, as well as ME code 70 and Shinohara code 70 track.
The photo's below show my "in-progress" layout staging tracks which use a mix of 3 different brands of code 100 turnouts - the flex is all Atlas code 100. Later, the staging will have a layer built above it for more track which will be code 83. The risers in the back are part of the supports for the upper level.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
One thing to consider is that Peco's ties are the thickest of all brands of HO track, and Micro Engineering ties are thinnest. Rail profile will need to be addressed at joints as when mixing any two brands, but the bigger issue is likely to be getting the ties aligned so you don't ramp up to the turnouts.
Rob Spangler
ok. Thanks for the advice.