I asked this question before, but got no response, so this is a last ditch effort to get an answer. Anyhoo...Since the Walthers turnouts are made by Shinohara, are the two brands identical? Thanks.
No, the Walthers TOs are cd83 and the Shinohara are cd70 or (I think still available) cd100. Other than that I believe the geometry and construction meathods are the same. I have never looked at them side by side however. Anyone using both on a layout? Are there any noticable differences?
I am not sure if they are the same but I used the walthers turnouts with atlas flex track they are close to the same the ties on the turnouts are thinner than the atlas ties. The turnouts are ok they look good but the work on them for DCC and electrical reliablity is not easy on the first few. My next R.R. will be built with peco code 75 turnouts and flextrack.
Kraydune, are you saying that it is difficult to wire the Walthers turnouts for DCC? And that the Peco turnouts are easier to wire? Could you give your opinion on the performance of the Walthers turnouts. I'm assuming they do not have insulated frogs. Are they well built? Thanks in advance. Pete
yes. walthers/shinohara TO's are more difficult to wire for DCC. check out www.wiringfordcc.com and some recent threads in the trainboard DCC forum.
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Pete: I asked this question before, but got no response, so this is a last ditch effort to get an answer. Anyhoo...Since the Walthers turnouts are made by Shinohara, are the two brands identical? Thanks.<hr></blockquote> As Yankinoz eluded, the Shino's and Walthers are identical w/ the exception of the rail height. Essentially, Shinohara makes all three, code 70, 83, and 100. Shinohara merely puts the Walthers trade name on the code 83 stuff. I us the Walthers turnouts on all the visible parts of my layout with Atlas Code 100 in the hidden portions. It has been my experience that the Walthers turnouts if installed aligned, etc... work pretty well. I see from the other posts that Walthers may have some questionable aspects when going to DCC. My layout is currently all DC Blocked system. I have considered going to DCC at some point in the future. Guess I now have some additional research to do!!!!
Kitbash, basically you have to think of polarity and possible shorts. Do the drawing of the track lines; red for right, black for left. Where you have black hit red, you may have a short. There are ways to correct it. If you have double crossovers by shinora, there may be an easier way than what the wiring4dcc web page says. You can check out my experiences with DCC by hitting link below. There are also links to other DCC sites from there. Feel free to email me.
