Improving (or wrecking) a Peco turnout in N…
In my quest for an introductory step for modellers in N, wanting to get started but not confident to build turnouts, I’ve taken a second look at Peco Code 55… Its robust and reliable construction and ease of use are huge benefits - however it has one massive draw back, one exacerbated for British use by two axle short wheelbase wagons. The gap in the frog is massive! This is a design decision. To cater for larger flanges found on older stock and for wider tyres and narrow back to backs Peco have increased the tolerances here… this means that modern (and even ten year old) Farish models drop in the frog area - visibly drop - as they run through the turnout in either direction. This problem even impacts American stock - and it can cause derailments or inconsistent performance on locomotives too… I decided to try and address this - with some but not total success. The first change, relatively easy, is to narrow the gap at the frog by increasing the width of the check rails with styr...
