"Unmanned" switches

[captain perry]

I didnt have rust but I did get dirt and dust in some that made them stick...took em apart and cleaned them and I was back in business.

[Rex in Pinetop]

This year one of my LGB switches failed due to weather.  (It sits under about 4 feet of snow each winter.)The controller housing that holds the magnet rusted up and froze.  I had to take it apart and clean the rust off.  It's been out in the elements for 5 years.  None of the other switches are experiencing any problems but now I need to check all the controllers for rust.  This particular one is unmanned and has worked fine as advertised in this thread.  I let the trains push it into position when going into the frog as part of a reversing loop so it isn't hooked up to any power.  Anyone else having rust problems?

Rex 

[captain perry]

That is exactly what I do on my line.  the switches entering the turning loops are spring loaded so that they "snap" one way or the other as the train comes back out of the loop.  trains will traverse the loop in alternate directions each lap. 

As has been said the LGB switches already do this. 

On non LGB switches I have made a little spring which pushes.  it looks like a cloths pin spring only lighter weight but has wires extending out and bent down so they fit into holes drilled in the bar between the points and the tie next to it.  the holes are drilled adjacent to each other when the switch points are centered half way between "right" and "left." 

With the spring inserted into the holes pushing, you can see that the points are pushed either left or right.  the force is small enough that the first wheels to pass will snap the switch into the proper position, the force is large enough to hold the points in the right position as trains approach from the other way.

[Stourbridge Lion]

dmaynard - Welcome to trains.com!

[dmaynard]

I have both an Aristocraft switch and a hand-laid switch set up to do the same thing. I had to put a slight bend in the spring in the Aristo manual switch "machine" to reduce the pressure slightly. I run track power, one reverse loop to another reverse loop over a single track main. The only minor problem is some lead and trail trucks on my steam locomotives aren't heavy enough to "push the points over". Those ones I add weight to, or rig a spring to to press them down a little bit more. But my rolling stock, even the small 2 axle LGB cars, are able to push the points over and roll right on through.

[engineerjohn]

FWB - unless things have changed in the years since I bought my LGB turnouts, the manual ones worked that way without any modification.

[mgilger]

Rob,

The AiristoCraft switch also will work as a spring switch.  I have 3 passing sidings on my layout, in addition to two staging yard bypasses. Each about 30 foot long. I leave one switch  on each siding directed into the siding, the other directed towards the main. When I'm running bidirectional, the east bound grain always goes into the siding. When it departs it works against the spring switch at the other end. The only thing I've had to do is put some extra weight on the lighter cars to keep them down on the track when going through the spring switch.

Regards,

Mark

[ttrigg]

floating_white_bear

: can I set-up the turn-outs leading into the loops on springs?

Yes! LGB Manual Switches do exactly that straight out of the box. No tinkering necessary. No retro-fitting. Take it out of the box and set the switch to "primary" direction.

[ztribob]

Yes, you can do that.  You just need a spring that is srong enough to return the turnout to the original position but not strong enough to derail cars that come through from the other direction on the return.  Or you could use a spring that holds the turnout in the last position that the train came through.  I'm sure someone could post a picture of the kind of spring you would need.  It's kind of a "v" shaped spring that just holds the turnout in either position.

Bob

 

[floating_white_bear]

I am just looking at designs for a garden railroad layout, and hoping to start laying some track next year. I am planning a single-track main line with loops at either end (using battery power and RC throttle.) Question would be: can I set-up the turn-outs leading into the loops on springs? As the train approaches the loop, the spring would hold the switch to direct the train to the left, and on the return, the motion of the train would flex the switch to allow an approach from the right and return the train to the main. In other words, since the train would only be approaching the loop from one direction and the return is always the same, do I need to physically set the turn out or will the spring and the switch construction allow an automatic action?   Thanks, Rob.