John Cutler
I have now acquired 2 LH turnouts.
Contrary to my earlier intention and hope, I will not be cutting one of these up to try and turn it into a Y or to use the components as cheap substitutes for C&L parts. The closure rails are not of one piece with the wing rails. They are held in place by the chairs and plastic infills. There is a separate wire which bonds them electrically as there is no mechanical bond. So if the crossing is dismantled, one will be left with a pile of unaligned bits. The design and build of the turnout is robust (well, compared to my flimsy productions) so there is no flexibility in the sleepering.
I am a bit surprised to find that the turnout was about 0.1mm narrow to gauge, perhaps even 0.2mm in one place. I initially thought that my vernier was out but none of my EMGS triangular gauges sit easily on the railheads. This is not a problem for me despite my using a 16.7mm Back-to-Back. My test short-wheelbase wagon navigated with no trouble. But I foresee big trouble possible with a long wheelbase loco. I can never measure any check gauge with confidence but my EMGS check gauge fitted OK (I assume it is 17.2mm). I measured the flangeways as 0.9mm rather than the 1mm EMGS standard. That is fine by me and looks better but it might give trouble for anyone using ancient (coarse?) wheels with thick flanges.
As Nick Ridgway says above, a B6 is not really suitable for mainline (or even branchline) running with big locos at any sort of speed (unless used as a trailing point with the mainline being the straight road). The slight narrowness to gauge makes it even more prone to derailment with that usage. My 2 will be consigned to a freight yard.
If the above seems unduly negative, then I should balance the commentary with some pluses:
As stated above, the turnouts are robust;
They are good value for money;
They are a good way to get something up and running easily and quickly;
I love the tiebar; please can the EMGS sell them separately!