I think I goofed up and have been buying the wrong turnouts for my layout. I want to move to DCC when the time comes but I have equipped the whole layout with Atlas Custom Line turnouts. Will these work for DCC? If not, can they be modified/wired so I can utilize them?
I am NCE DCC . Most of my swiches are Custom line. Not only are they fine for DCC, of all the commercial makes including Peco, I think these are the most US prototype looking. You can enhance the look even more by spray painting the the side(s) of the rails we'll see, with Krylon primer rust or dark gray. This big fear of jamming up the moving parts is simply not true. If you want, first put a dab of petroleum jelly on the tiny hinges where the points swivel at. Then spray. Let dry then bright boy off the tops of the rails and frog (It's metal. I know not why Atlas paints them black !) After that go back and rust up the guard rails on tops and sides. Now, here's a cool one I found: Get enamel 'chrome' paint in smallest bottle. Paint the 4 brown plastic insulators surrounding the frog so that there are no more visible gaps, making the frog appear connected to those 4 rails ...Finally, most times the engines won't stall due to these gaps. But if you have a certain loco that always stops here, you need to power the frog so that the polarity changes in it depending on which path the loco is traveling through at that moment. It's is easier than you may think. (Check out Caboose Industries powered throws). But look up 'powering all-live turnouts'. There are many in Tboard 'How to' and other sources on line or in MRR books/Mags. After this your DCC trains will run great and look great switch or no switch.. Do one once in a while. No need to do them all at one time. Lots of luck, Mark
