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How Good are Peco Turnouts?
Bill models HO scale, 100 Gauge track and asks readers for their opinions on turnout brands:
“Is there a better quality turnout than Peco? Of all the turnouts that I have, I have three medium turnouts where the train is constantly derailing. I have gauged them and checked all alignments and they look fine, but you hear a thump as the train passes over them. I’m ready to tear everything apart and replace those Peco turnouts.”
4 Responses to How Good are Peco Turnouts?
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How are the trains derailing? Are they getting bumped up or dropping down? Every train, every car; or certain cars and loco’s? Getting bumped up could be the result of old “pizza cutter” flanges bottoming out on frogs designed for smaller flanges. Dropping down could be caused by something out of gauge on the turnout or wheel treads that are too narrow. Are you sure the turnouts are Code 100, not 83 or 55?
I agree with Rand, but I have also found that Peco points tend to bow upwards very slightly at the frog. This bow can have a deleterious effect on short wheel based steam locos & some truck bogies. It’s because when the front wheel of the bogie hits the frog it lifts up slightly & then drops back onto the track, the rear wheel of that bogie will lift but can unalign itself with the frog resulting in a possible derailment. By putting a straight edge along the length of the turnout & ensuring that the turnout is properly level with the entry & egress track should solve the problem.
Hope this helps
Ian
I use Micro Engineering turnouts. I have used Peco before but I find the ME turnouts to be higher quality.
If you have finescale wheels you may find that the wheels are falling into the gap as they pass through the turnout. One remedy would be to glue a thin strip of plastic (margarine lid thickness to the guardrail, thereby reducing the gap in the point. Trim the plastic level with the top of the rail. The problem might be that your KD couplers are too low and are hiting the point as the wagon enters, hence jerking and derailments. If this is the case, you need to buy a height guage and adjust the air- pipe so that it clears the point crossing rail.