[ From: Bradley Butcher. I am using #8 turnouts./ From: Schuyler Larrabee. I think you might want to consider using No. 6 switches in the yards] Bradley, for what it's worth from someone who became hopelessly addicted to #12 to #16 crossovers and turnouts on all my mainline junctions, I used #6 turnouts exclusively on my hidden staging-track ladders (some straight, some compound) and in the freight yard. All I can say is, no problem even for the longest passenger and freight cars. The main factor here is careful design that accentuates "flow" and avoids reversals or kinks. In the passenger terminal, I have #8s in compound ladders, but this was only done for visual and operational aesthetics. I experimented recently with the 89' Atlas pig flats with Kadee short shank scale Whisker couplers in the fixed draft gear. Just for the heck of it I used a #6 Shinohara crossover. It wasn't the prettiest train movement you'll ever see -- but the cars negotiated the crossover without incident. I was actually quite surprised. Re couplers, I have gotten disgusted enough with the non-Kadees that I just automatically replace them with the "real thing." The last straw for me was an Athearn Genesis F lashup that kept separating. "Off with their heads!" Joe Braun The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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