John Cutler
I managed to interrogate the poor souls manning the EMGS stand at the Southampton MRS exhibition at Eastleigh this morning. They had a sample of train track and a rest sample of a B6 turnout on the stand.
So I have some answers.
1. The plain rail track is not inclined in the chairs.
A shame.
This means it is OK for sidings.
But not suited for running long fast trains on a mainline.
For me, inclining the rails means the rolling stock centres itself on the track and that means couplings also get centred.
Which helps coupling and uncoupling with AJs.
So even for sidings I do not think this plain track is for me.
A fellow interrogator was assured that the plain track is keyed.
But the keys do not protrude as in C&L chairs.
However nobody could verify this as there were no magnifying glasses available.
The dratted dark colour does not help one see!
2. The sleeper colour will be the very dark brown as shown on page 219-4 of the January 2019 Newsletter.
I am afraid the EMGS missed a trick here.
3. The sleeper depth is dictated by the need to accommodate Peco’s wiring.
It is a pity they could not make it a bit deeper, as per prototype, but also allowing the use of standard 0.5mm sheet to level the thin-sleepered C&L track in matching up.
4. The tiebars will not be sold separately.
Despite the EMGS needing dosh!
The turnouts will be good value compared to buying components from C&L.
Apparently the turnouts will be assembled by hand in the UK so this is surprising.
I plan to buy 2 of the B6 turnouts once they are available.
One to test and one to cut up and dismantle.
The plan is to discover whether the parts can be used to construct a B6 Y turnout or similar.