3 way points

[gragrahadea]

hi, everbody,can anybody tell me if a3 way point can be used on a hornby dcc layout,to make a3way siding,just hand operated. no wiring thanks.

[Flashbang]

Hi

Hornby do not make a 3 way point, so I assume you're referencing the Peco 3 way?  

The Peco 3 way point SL99 can be used with Hornby track and as its insulated frog and needs no other work or switches. Its rail profile is to Code 100 the same as Hornby. For DCC you may find it hard to fit Hornby electro point clips to it. So new wired track feeds after the point are normal.

What you need to remember is that Peco Streamline SLxx points are not to the same geometery as Hornby points. The natural track centres for Hornby and Peco Setrack is 67mm while Peco Streamline is 50mm.  This means that a short piece of track will be needed in the turnout directions to bring the track centres back to 67mm.  Additionally, Streamline points are to a much larger radius than Hornby points. So they are not a direct replacement for Hornby points. Typically the smallest Streamline points radius is around 24 inches (610mm rad). Hornby points are rad 2 which is 438mm approx 171/2 inches (except Express points).

[gragrahadea]

thank you very much,flashbang,great advice,very much appreciated.

[morairamike]

The Peco SL-99 is insul frog but their site shows also a SL-E99 electro frog. Both of these are symetrical.  I used one of the -99 on my layout and it gave severe derailment problems due to the small step that exists where the moving part come in contact with the rail. I tried to gently alter the profile bit to no avail. They do an assymetric version -E199 code 75 version  (yes I understand the rail profile etc.,) but you can buy a conversion rail to change between the two profiles.

 

In the end I decided to use a LH and a RH point one after the other. Takes up more room but prevented the derailments.