06-11-2010, 12:21 PM
Gary, just a "heads up" with an easy fix for Atlas turnouts. I'm not sure if the Atlas turnouts conform to NMRA standards or not, but even if they do there are tolerances built in to the standards, and the Atlas are built to the wide side of the tolerances for guard rail clearance to the stock rails. You need an NMRA track and clearance gauge to check everything. On one side of the NMRA gauge there is a little nub for checking guard rail clearance to stock rails. That nub should just fit between the stock rail and the guard rails with the gauge at 90 degrees to the rails. It should barely touch the inside edge of the stock rail and the outside edge of the guard rail, and it should not have any slop. I don't remember the exact size shim needed, but it will be somewhere between .005"-.015". Since atlas guard rails are part of the plastic tie casting, you can cut a sliver of the appropriate size styrene and glue it to the guard rail to close up the gap. The guard rails grab the inside edge of all wheels opposite from the frog and should help eliminate derailing over the frogs.