Double Cross Dilema

[Pitchwife]

After I don't know how many months I finally came up with a solution to the last section of my layout plan, the switch yard.

Got the staging looking good with a lot of help from Train Clown, thanks TC. The industrial area now works like an actual business instead of the spaghetti strewn time waster that I started with.
The last challenge was the switch yard. It's hard to do a real classification yard, which my plans required, in the 6x2 3/4 feet of space at the end of the bench that was available.
I finally came up with a plan that does what I wanted it to do. It's not prototypical, but hey, it works; except for one small problem. It requires a double cross to enter the yard. Since it's a high traffic area I wanted to use #6 turnouts. I'm using Atlas code 80 track for everything else but the smallest crossover they make is 15 degrees which works great for #4 turnouts but not for #6's. I determined that I need a 10 degree crossing and started hunting for one.
I found a ready made #6 double crossing by Peco for $48. jawdrop Then I found just the 10 degree crossing, also by Peco for $16. :thumb: :thumb: Now that I can handle. However after doing some more research I found out that it is code 55. Riverossi also makes one, same problem.

So here is my dilemma. can I use a code 55 piece of track with the rest of the code 80? Remember, this is a high traffic area with trains going through both forward and in reverse.

The only other idea would be to hand lay a code 80 10 degree crossover. The mere thought of it makes me shudder.

I would appreciate any ideas or thoughts you can provide. Until then I'll be doing this: wall1

Thanks
Clark

 

[Meiriongwril]

Peco code 55 is funny stuff (for example it's no compatible with Atlas code 55). This is because the rail height is the same as code 80, but it is embedded deeper in the ties. In effect it's code 55 on the outside, but deeper on the inside of the ties so that older, deeper flanged wheels will run okay. Clever, eh? This means that you may well be able to link it to otherwise code 80 track without too much bother.
Has anyone out there done that?

 

[Catt]

The PECO code 55 crossing will connect to the ATLAS code 80 just like any other piece of code 80 track.

 

[webmaster]

Just hook em up & if there is a height difference, get the dremel out and carefully create a small slope over the longest bit of track you can. :thumb:

 

[RailRon]

Hey Meirionwril, you just solved a riddle for me!

Yesterday I bought PECO rail joiners for code 55 track in my LHS. (I need them for joining code 55 profile for handlaying track.) Then at home I noted that on the package it says "for code 55 and code 80 track" - and I wondered if this was a typo. (On the other hand I have PECO rail joiners for code 70 track - asize in between???)
But then I thought, this can't be the case - PECO won't sell rail joiners for years with a typo on the package without anybody noting it...

Thanks to your info, Meirionwril, almost everything is now clear. But as it looks, now I'll have to go straight down into the basement and check, if these 'code 55' joiners really fit my track profiles, which I bought about 25 years ago, or if they only fit sloppily, since they are built for code 80 profiles... I hope not...


Clark,
if my assumption is true, then you should be able to connect your 'code 80, #6 turnouts' and the 'code 55, 10° crossing' RAIL PROFILES without problems. In this case, probably the ties of the crossing won't reach the ground, but then you could shim the difference with a .025" cardboard or styrene sheet between ties and track bed.

Ron

 

[Pitchwife]

Just hook em up & if there is a height difference, get the dremel out and carefully create a small slope over the longest bit of track you can. :thumb:

Clark,
if my assumption is true, then you should be able to connect your 'code 80, #6 turnouts' and the 'code 55, 10° crossing' RAIL PROFILES without problems. In this case, probably the ties of the crossing won't reach the ground, but then you could shim the difference with a .025" cardboard or styrene sheet between ties and track bed.

Ron

Thanks everyone for the info. Shimming up the crossover isn't a problem. I know that lots of people use both code 80 & 55 on the same layout, I just wasn't sure it would work to stick a single piece of one in the middle of the other, especially in such a high traffic setting. :thumb: I was really worried about having to hand lay it. hamr

 

[60103]

Railron: the peco code 70 rail joiners are for their HO track. (I think). I have so many different joiners that I get lost! I bought some rails for outside 3rd rail (OO scale) but I can't remember which joiners go with it. Fortunately, the outside rail won't be functional.
Back when I started in HO the code 70 was new stuff, and MR warned that it was so small that many of the pieces were coming out twisted.

 

[inkaneer]

Atlas makes a 12 degree crossing especially for their #6 switches? They are only about $6-7 full retail and even less from an E-tailersign1 sign1 .

 

[Pitchwife]

Atlas makes a 12 degree crossing especially for their #6 switches? They are only about $6-7 full retail and even less from an E-tailersign1 sign1 .

On all of the OLHS sites I checked out (well over a dozen) the smallest crossover I found was 15 degrees. Using Atlas' RTS I determined that #6 switches needed a 10 degree one. In the code 55 library they had an 11.25 degree crossing, but I tried it with the #6 turnouts and it didn't work. I think it is for their #5 or #7 code 55 turnouts.

 

[pomperaugrr]

Try the Kato double cross over. I have a couple and they work flawlessly. I have no trouble backing truck mounted coupler, equipped rolling stock through these, plus the switch machines are built in. These will mate right up with Code 80 track. You can find them online for about $45.

Eric

 

[60103]

Are you doing a straight double crossover or putting a bend in it? The frog angles for the crossing should be double that of the turnouts.

 

[Pitchwife]

This is a section of the plan showing where the crossover. Everything is in scale, taken from an RTS file. The pieces all came from the library except the crossover which was made from flex track. All turnouts are #6 except the ones between the A/D tracks and the Yard track which are #4s.