All --
There has been some discussion here recently about Tom's Turnouts. Quite
coincidentally, Earl Henry was kind enough to send me a sample of both Tom's
Turnouts and Custom Trax turnouts for my assessment. Earl's objective is to be
able to run both scale and hirail equipment on the same layout, so he has been
purchasing sample items from a variety of S turnout manufacturers. For my
testing I used the NASG track/wheel gauge and an S Scale America
fully-equalizewd truck with scale metal wheelsets conforming to the NASG
standard for wheelsets. Here is what I have found:
1. Custom Trax #6 r.h. turnout with widely-spaced guard rails and a scale frog
-- This turnout may tolerate hirail wheelsets, but the wheels that travel
through the frog will bounce over it. It will not be reliable for scale
wheelsets -- See explanation in #3 below.
This turnout is compatible with the NASG gauge with respect to track gauge
only. Additionally, the sharp end of the curved switch point is too blunt. It
needs to be feathered to a point.
2. Custom Trax #6 L.H. turnout with closely-spaced guard rails -- This turnout
will not tolerate hirail wheelsets. It appears that it will handle scale
wheelsets properly.
The right-hand turnout is compatible with the NASG gauge with respect to track
gauge, frog, and guardrail flangeways. However, the track gauge of the
left-hand turnout is inconsistent, varying from wider than the NASG maximum to
narrower than the NASG minimum. And the sharp ends of its switch points are
too blunt. They need to be feathered to a point. For both turnouts, the check
gauge in the vicinity of the frog is consistent with the NASG gauge.
3. Custom Trax #6 r.h. turnout without guard rails -- This turnout will not be
reliable with either scale or hirail wheelsets. Guard rails are required to
pull the wheelset away from the frog point so as to prevent the flange that
goes through the frog from "picking" the frog point. When picking occurs, the
wheelset has a 50-50 chance of taking the wrong path through the frog.
This turnout is compatible with the NASG gauge with respect to track gauge and
frog flangeways. However, the sharp ends of the switch points are too blunt.
They need to be feathered to a point.
4. Custom Trax #8 L.H. Turnout
This turnout conforms in all respects to the NASG track gauge. I was a little
concerned because the track gauge through the straight leg is the minimum
allowed while at the same time the guard rail seemed too far from the stock
rail. But the check gauge is correct and therefore the test truck tracked
reliably through the turnout, even with considerable lateral force toward the
frog point.
5. Tom's Turnouts -- These will work properly for some hirail wheelsets but
probably not for all. The presence of guard rails requires dimensional
compatibility (back-to-back wheelset dimension that is equal to or greater than
the distance between inside of flangeways at guardrail and frog). DIfferent
manufacturers' wheelsets differ in this dimension. SHS and AM hirail wheelsets
conform to each other. Many AF and almost all Lionel wheelsets do not. None
of the Tom's products will provide reliable operation with scale wheelsets.
Scale wheelsets will not operate properly on the #6 right-hand turnout. They
drop into the frogs, and they nearly always pick the frog points because of
this. Additionally, the track gauge through both legs of the turnout exceeds
the NASG maximum dimension.
Scale wheelsets will not operate properly on the 6 left-hand turnout. They
drop into the frogs, and they nearly always pick the frog points because of
this. Additionally, the track gauge through the straight leg of the turnout
exceeds the NASG maximum dimension, whereas the track gauge through the curbed
leg is less than the NASG minimum dimension. These observations hold true for
both samples furnished.
6. Tom's 9-1/2 Degree Crossing (#6 frogs) -- Crossings with rather large
angles (larger than, say, 20 degrees) are fairly immune to frog-point-picking
problems. All you need is guard rails that are far enough from the running
rails to be non-functional (cosmetic only). But for shallow angles like this
one, my comments in #5 above apply.
The track gauge through the lower-left-to-upper-right leg is too wide. The
track gauge on the other leg is OK. Scale wheelsets will not operate properly
on this crossing. They drop into the frogs, and they nearly always pick the
frog points because of this.
I know that some of you will be unhappy with my assessment. However, I have
confined myself to facts, which stand by themselves.
But I do have a personal observation regarding Tom's Turnouts. These are
mechanically and aesthetically well-made. They look exactly like the turnouts
I made as a teenager, when I was still a hirailer. There is no reason that a
properly-gauged Tom's Turnout will not function properly as long as wheelsets
that are consistent with its check gauge measurement (the distance between the
inside edge of the frog wing rail and the inside edge of the opposite guard
rail) are used. That said, I fail to understand how a statement can be made
that they will perform properly independent of a wheelset's back-to-back
distance.
For your reference I will be posting photos of a Tom's Turnout and a Custom
Trax turnout in our Yahoo photos section.
Dick Karnes
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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