Manual switches

[nickt22]

I know old Lionel switches that say (manual) are meant to be manual, but is there a way to make those switches controllable from your control panel?

[dk99358]

Seems to me, I remember seeing where someone had run fishing line from his control panel to the switches.  He had one line going directly to the handle, the other went over a roller so as to come in from behind to get the reverse throw.  I remember he used washers tied to the line so he could pull it but I don't know if he color coded or numbered or something else.

I THINK it was in CTT and was a minister or priest who had the layout but don't hold me to that. 

 Dale

[lionelsoni]

A choke cable is another way to do it.

[jprampolla]

Hi Folks,      

     I have powered an old manual Lionel turnout/switch with a car door lock motor. I have a short page that describes it briefly: http://www.josephrampolla.com/oldswitch.html  

     It is a little bulky, but it works well.  You could disguise it with lichen and plaster rocks. Hope this helps!      

     Take care, Joe.

[Dave Farquhar]

www.josephrampolla.com is a really good website. There aren't a lot of really big web sites about O gauge trains out there other than the ones run by the magazines. Other than thortrains.net, I don't think I've seen a site that has that many pages, and I certainly haven't seen another independently-run site with that many how-to projects on it.

[ChiefEagles]

A choke cable is another way to do it.

What I used in the 70's.  Had a mixture of remotes and manuals on old layout. 

[csxt30]

I've used linkage & bellcranks for model planes years ago on my layout. Had a servo hooked to it & could change it radio controlled. It worked pretty good.

Thanks, John