Clark, Funny you should mention turnouts. When it comes to trackwork, I've tried just about everything you can think of. I went from Atlas flex to handlaid, and for years it was true, to me at least, that handlaid was far superior to flex track. I still used Atlas flex track for staging. Time goes by and track "components" are now available which make my older handalid track look spartan. A year ago (maybe two!) I bought Central Valley turnout kits, they look far superior, if you are ok with losing the ability to fit handlaid turnouts to fit a given situation. And you don't lose the attractive feature of rails not both ending together like commercial turnouts. Recently I "discovered" Micro Engineering turnouts. They really are very nice, too bad they are only available in #6 so far. I like them enough that I am using them on my latest extension, and it has presented me with the "dilema" of having to deal with "sectional" turnouts again. Just last night I was pondering what length of rail I should glue to the deck girder bridge I just built so that I can maintain staggered rail joints between two turnouts on opposite sides of the bridge. Call it an unreasonable fetish if you will, because I know it is relatively unimportant, but I am currently stumped! I can't duplicate the good looks of this turnout but wish I could stagger railends! Writing this makes me think if this is my biggest problem (it isn't, but I like to avoid the real problems!) I have it made!
Yellowlynn, it was when I needed to lay track on a multi level helix that I realized I needed the most "bulletproof" trackwork possible. Since it was hidden, I used easy to lay Atlas code 100. Taking into account Murphy's law, I knew any kinks on the 26 and 24 inch radius curves on the helix would cause me to burn down the railroad, so I just figured out a way to stagger the joints and also solder them while straight, both items which I had read were desirable. In the long run, it was a great decision, as I now run trains up and down the helix trouble free, except for one Walthers curved turnout I used. At some point in the near future I will replace it with handlaid, which is funny because I used to handlay because it looked better than the commercial turnouts available, now I handlay because my work is far more reliable than commercial, but doesn't look as good!
BTW, the Micro Engineering turnouts are very nice but do have gauge problems in the guard rails. I ripped the guard rails out and will replace with rail I have on hand, glued onto the ties. Properly gauged wheelsets "bumped" thru the turnouts with the guard rails supplied. A nice feature of these turnouts is that they have a spring on the throwbar which latches the points in place, somewhat like a Peco. But you can remove it easily from underneath if you want to power with a slow motion motor. I removed these springs from the three turnouts I've laid so far, and have found that even with the spring removed, I can push the points over by hand and they stay in place. Granted, I haven't run thru them much yet. I did drill holes in the roadbed for installation of throw wires in the future so when the points stop staying put I can install machines. Having handlaid for so long, I like powered frogs, and these turnouts have an isolated metal frog which looks great, and you can solder a feed to it on a provided pad on the bottom. I soldered wires to all frogs for future use. In fact, I am a nut for feeders, and soldered 7 wires to each turnout! One for each stockrail, one for each point, one for each of the diveging rails from the frog, and one for the frog. All are connected to my bus wires except the frog, which is hanging for future use if needed. So far I haven't had any reason to worry about powering the frogs.
Sorry, a bit of a long reply to what was probably meant as a joke!
Gary
