I've been playing trains seriously for a long while. Longer than I care to think about in fact. Yet I'm still surprised to find goodies for sale that I didn't know about. One such item is in the Scaleway point range - a kit for a 24 inch point.
This is a big surprise because these kits used to be manufacturer just around the corner from where I live. The main retail outlet was in Warwick, about 5 miles away. SMP track components have been the mainstay of our layouts for over 20 years. But the sharpest turnout available was 36 inch radius.
SMP has now been taken over by Marcway Models and according to their website and the very helpful man on the 'phone - 2 feet radius is available and that is great news for those of us knocking up small model railway layouts. OK a large express model locomotive is going to struggle but if your preferred prototypes are small tank engines then it's the business.
Normally I would just buy the components, copper clad sleepers and nickel silver rail, but assembling a turnout would seem to make an interesting magazine piece so I needed the kits. Mind you at £4.99 each plus £2.99 deliver (next day too !) there's not much of a saving to be made.
Thanks Phil, that was an interesting read in spite of your post being almost 12 years old
ReplyDeletePete