Fast Tracks

Hi all,

First time poster, and looking forward to saving some dollars on the many number of HO scale #8 turnouts and an assortment of #6 turnouts and #4 wye's I'm going to be building for a couple railway modules.

I'd like to make sure I've got enough rail to last me through about 10 turnouts (one for practice and screwing up, and 9 usable turnouts for the first module) but I'm not seeing much in the way of a reference on the website how much rail is needed to make a turnout for a given turnout fixture...and since it's not included in the fixture package, am wondering what's a necessary quantity of rail to have on hand to build each of the three turnouts?

Thanks!
Jon

Hello Jon,

Here are some rail requirement estimates for the turnouts you want to build. These estimates are based on our calculations for building turnouts using our TwistTies Kits, but the amount of rail that you need should be about the same when using our fixtures.

#8 Turnouts - 72" of rail per turnout
#6 Turnouts - 48" of rail per turnout
#4 Wyes - 40" of rail per turnout

Hope this is helpful!

_________________
Cheers!

Ron Warris
Fast Tracks

Certainly is. Now that I've had a chance to plug some of the numbers into my software, I'm finding the #4 wyes to be a tad too sharp, and have substituted a #6. I'd presume it's using around 50" worth of rail?

Also, I know the notes on the tie templates say they're not representative of the accuracy of the assembly fixtures, but are they close enough to use in my track planning software?

Thanks!
Jon

Hi,

A #6 Wye would use about 48" of rail per turnout.

The printable tie templates on the site are an exact full size drawing of the turnouts produced in the fixtures, and can reliably be used for measurements.

We mention that they are not representative of the accuracy of the turnouts because we were concerned that modelers would use these to lay turnouts without using a track gauge, and the location of the rails on the drawings should not be used in place of a proper track gauge. Also, the layout of the ties on the narrow gauge templates are drawn consistent, where the actual turnouts produced in the the fixtures contain a more "rustic" pattern.

_________________
Cheers!

Tim Warris
Fast Tracks
http://www.fast-tracks.net
service@fast-tracks.net

Tim has given you good answers.

I would suggest that you consider buying a full 99' bundle (33 each 3' lengths) of the rail size you need (you'll use it on all kinds of trackwork) and it is cheaper to buy in bulk from many sources.

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-ed mccamey-
COSLAR RR - http://www.coslar.us/
NMRA Standards and Conformance Department
PROTO & FINE Scale Coordinator
I estimate I have about 5 pounds of coupler springs somewhere in the vicinity of my workbench.