Atlas Code 55 Curved Turnouts

[wazzou]

But wouldn't that tab be the same on a LH TO and the point rails from a LH'r were installed on a RH'r backwards?

[Mark5]

The blunt point is clearly not in the design specs (unless they were idiots) - looks like somebody goofed at the factory and somehow got past QC. :-\

[wcfn100]

But wouldn't that tab be the same on a LH TO and the point rails from a LH'r were installed on a RH'r backwards?

No.


Jason

[wcfn100]

It may be worth noting that the rail head on frog end of the point rails are even wider than the points in the pictures. 

They are actually quite a bit wider than the stock rail head.


Jason

[ednadolski]

If the tabs really are for the throwbars, then AFAICT it looks like the points were manufactured with the tabs actually on the wrong ends.

Ed

[wcfn100]

Here's the other end.




It would seem that the point rails are just not in spec (assuming the spec was correct).

The rails are tapered, but start larger than stock rails and obvioulsy don't go to much of a point.


Jason

[wazzou]

OK.  That was hard to discern from the original photo.  It looked like at the frog end, they were more pointy...so to speak.

[ednadolski]

In technical terms, those points are foo-bar.

If you can’t wait for an Atlas fix/replacement, you can always make your own points from a bit of extra C55 rail and PC tie material.

Ed

[John]

i thought they did a first release.. sold em out darn quick...

then there was a lull

then they restocked...

i think i remember Lee needing one and one not being available...

My good ones were purchased from the MB Klein store when they first came out  ..

the 2nd batch was picked up at Kleins a few months later .. through mailorder .. the way Kleins pushes stock, its quite possible to be a different lot

[ednadolski]

you can always make your own points from a bit of extra C55 rail and PC tie material.

Another thought, you can buy CNC machined points in Code 55 rail from Andy at the Proto:87 Store.   I'm sure they could be gently bent to use in a curved turnout.

Andy also has a whole line of detail parts, and even photo-etched N scale frogs.

Scroll down to see then entry for the CNC points:  http://www.proto87.com/n-scale-track.html

Ed

[chuck geiger]

John,

I started the "Troubles with Atlas' Code 55 Curved Turnouts" thread on the Atlas N Scale Forums.  If you go there, you will find a lot of details on the problems.  The thread is about four pages long now, but you may have to go back about five pages of threads to find it.

In short, the turnouts appear to be plagued with gauge problems (in my case, wide and narrow on the same turnout!) and blunt points.  Atlas is looking into the problem and will hopefully respond sometime soon.  At this time, we don't know if it was a specific run or not.  I can confirm that my worst turnout (they varied) was ordered from a different vendor than the others, but I haven't tried to check batch numbers.  I have since torn out my curved turnouts, but I have minimal or no issues with my #5 turnouts, #7 turnouts, and flextrack.

Hope this helps,

Dave is the door encased in the frame?
Dave Foxx

[Blazeman]

This died suddenly. I'm curious as to how this may have been resolved.

My prediction is that Atlas would replace defective items.

[Chris333]

I think it was solved by Dave building his own.

[davefoxx]

Supposedly, Atlas was looking in to the problems, stated they had printed out the thread on the A-board (and the constructive complaints therein) for review, and was expected to respond at some point.  To date, I've heard nothing from Atlas personally and the thread on the A-board has faded away.

Chris is right.  I gave up waiting, because (1) I don't expect Atlas to reimburse me when I don't have the packages or the receipts, (2) we're only talking about a total of seven curved turnouts, which didn't exactly break me, and (3) I got inspired to go to code 40 and have since torn out the problem trackage.

Dave Foxx

[Van Horne]

I've just begun track laying on my new layout that is absolutely dependent on having 4 curved turnouts - 2 left and 2 right.  The lefts I purchased some time ago, while the rights are more recent.  The points on the lefts are fine.  The ones on the rights are just as pictured in this thread.  At the tab end, the rail head is very wide, but it doesn't have any negative functional effect because the running surfaces line up correctly.

It took me about 10 minutes to file the points down so all equipment runs through reliably without picking.  While I agree this shouldn't happen on supposedly quality track like this, I've seen a lot worse in my 40+ years in N.  I'm not the world's most skilled modeler, either.  In other words, if I could fix them, pretty much anyone with some needle files could.  Hopefully Atlas will ensure this problem doesn't recur in the future.

Dave