Skip to main content

Reply to "S SCALE S-HELPER-SERVICE TURNOUT SURGERY--YEAH...YOU CAN DO THAT!"

Mark, that is very nice work you did. The finished turnout looks factory supplied. As far as turnouts to cut up I have never seen the manual SHS turnouts you pictured. They must not be as common as the powered versions which themselves were not that common. PortLines has some used SHS turnouts for $45. The new MTH turnouts are $65.

The problem with even the latest release of the SHS turnouts is the wiring and brass slides under the turnout are not robust and in my personal experience have a 90% chance of failing in routine use. These parts were clearly not made to pass 8A to 10A or for continuous switching use. I would cut up the SHS turnout as you did  Mark and then solder on new wires and use a relay or contacts on a Tortoise machine to power the frog and frog rails. This is the same as one would wire one of the custom made numbered turnouts. I have never taken apart a new MTH turnout to see how robust the electrical parts are. What I do know is the rail MTH uses is not the same alloy and quality that SHS sourced even though they look almost the same. When we stripped the rail out of the MTH flex track to use as stock to make the custom turnouts the difference between the MTH and SHS rail was obvious.

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
×