01-14-2011, 11:01 AM
I would recommend staying away form Atlas turnouts. The cheap sheet metal points are very delicate, and tend to be damaged by heavy locomotives running over them. Atlas designed their turnouts to be used as toys by children and unfortunately, I haven't seen any evidence of them upgrading even the custom line product for the scale model hobbyist. Also the electrical path through the points to the frog is carried by the rivets used for hinges on the points. These will often produce poor contact after some time. I once repaired an Atlas turnout to make it work reliably by carefully filling down a section of rail and gluing it to the back side of the points with epoxy after oiling the ties underneath to keep from gluing the points. I also soldered jumper wires from the rails in the points to the appropriate stock rail (I was using dead frogs). The turnout worked great after I finished, but I spent 4 hours modifying the turnout, and didn't know if it would work until I finished! I haven't used or looked at an Atlas turnout in over 20 years, so the design may have changed in the newest Custom Line product.
Look it over carefully. Some people have had good luck with Atlas turnouts, but be aware that if it has thin sheet metal points, that may be a problem area. Carrying the electrical load through rivet hinges may not be as much of a problem; but if you suddenly find yourself having engines going dead through the turnouts, be aware of the potential problem.
One other essential modification to an Atlas turnout for reliable running is to glue a shim .050"-.010" thick to the guard rails to narrow the gap between the guard rails and the stock rails and especially at the frog. If you don't do that, the guard rails are just decorative and do nothing to keep the trains on the rails going through the turnout. It has often been said that carefully laid track work is the key to reliability and reducing derailments. It cannot be emphasized enough the importance of using your NMRA gauge to measure and correct every part of any turnout whether it is bought ready made, or hand laid.
Look it over carefully. Some people have had good luck with Atlas turnouts, but be aware that if it has thin sheet metal points, that may be a problem area. Carrying the electrical load through rivet hinges may not be as much of a problem; but if you suddenly find yourself having engines going dead through the turnouts, be aware of the potential problem.
One other essential modification to an Atlas turnout for reliable running is to glue a shim .050"-.010" thick to the guard rails to narrow the gap between the guard rails and the stock rails and especially at the frog. If you don't do that, the guard rails are just decorative and do nothing to keep the trains on the rails going through the turnout. It has often been said that carefully laid track work is the key to reliability and reducing derailments. It cannot be emphasized enough the importance of using your NMRA gauge to measure and correct every part of any turnout whether it is bought ready made, or hand laid.