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N-Scale Switch With Pop-Rivits?

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  • Member since
    August 2011
  • 12 posts
N-Scale Switch With Pop-Rivits?
Posted by baumgrenze on Sunday, August 5, 2018 6:00 PM

I am trying to identify the maker of the shorter of these vintage 1973  N-scale switches, the one in the upper image. It has an apparent 9.75" radius on the curve and replaces a ~4.25" straight track section. I tried both metric and imperial rules and the straight length is not an integer for either system. It is different from 4 other switches in that the point pivots and stretcher attachment points appear to be pop-rivits. Does this design look familiar to any veteran builders?

I am pretty confident that the lower image is of an Atlas 19" radius stock switch.

https://imgur.com/a/0sHcb1i

The HTML below was suggested by Imgur as a way to embed the image in my post. We shall see....

  <div class="copy">
                                <p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/XfisFbL.jpg" alt="" /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div>
                            </div>

thanks

baumgrenze

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Monday, August 6, 2018 9:08 AM

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • 12 posts
Posted by baumgrenze on Monday, August 6, 2018 11:05 AM

Thank you, Big Daddy, for the image.

I checked the 'Page Source' and found this HTML containing 'imgur.com' and the link information.

  <div class="copy">
                                <p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/XfisFbL.jpg" alt="" /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div>
                            </div>

How did you insert it?

I tried editing the original post and substituting it for the code suggested by Imgur but that does not insert the image either.

thanks

baumgrenze

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Quebec
  • 983 posts
Posted by Marc_Magnus on Monday, August 13, 2018 1:38 PM

Hello Big Daddy, Hello Baumgrenze

 

Not sure to 100%, but the first curved turnout seems to be a Minitrix first generation also sold by Model Power years and yers ago.

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • 12 posts
Posted by baumgrenze on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 12:22 AM

 

 Hello Marc_Magnus

 

Thanks for keeping this thread alive.
 
I did a bit more research today. I analyzed the switch in Autosketch 9, fitting a drawing and a known length. That let me measure the frog angle between the short fixed curved rail (3 ties) and the corresponding part of the straight rail. Depending on how I draw it the angle it is 19-22° making it a pretty tight switch indeed. I drew a 3-point curve along the short curved side and came up with a 7" radius and a curve length of 3.25" to the  next section of track. From my reading, that is a 'small switch.'

I also noted that some of the black paint on the switch motor was worn away revealing a brass base. 
That said, the setup worked with the equipment I bought, an Atlas 4055 EMD GP9 (N&NW colors,) a Minitrix 2990 AT&SF 4-6-2 Pacific, and an Atlas 4021 Plymouth WDT switcher, and a set of 8 freight cars, a Minitrix, 3203, NCG Box, a 3210, Southern Gondola, a,3216, Cattle, a, 3249, Heidelberg Reefer, a, 3272, Caboose, a, 3279, Peabody Hopper, and a Bachmann, 5003, TLCX Box,and a 6120 NADX Box.

 

 Thanks for any insights anyone can share,

baumgrenze

 

 

 

 

                               

  • Member since
    April 2018
  • From: 53° 33′ N, 10° 0′ E
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Posted by Tinplate Toddler on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 2:14 AM

The switch on the upper picture is definitively of European manufacture, as you can see by the arrangement of the ties. It is not a Minitrix switch, which had a rather solid "body" in the middle of the switch to conceal the throw bar mechanism.

I think it is a Roco 24° switch, which may have been sold under the Atlas brand when Atlas got into N scale in the late 1960s. Atlas´ entry into the N scale market began by importing locos from Rivarossi and Mehanotechnica, freight cars from Rivarossi and Roco, but I am not 100% sure about who made the track and switches in the early years.

Happy times!

Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)

"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • 12 posts
Posted by baumgrenze on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 3:51 PM

Thank you all for contributing. It made me write a few more focused searches and I found this:

 
It looks to me to be identical with mine if you see the track joint in mine at the upper left. I reoriented both switches for comparison sake.
 
Another mystery solved. I'll document it for others who come after.
 
 
Thanks again,
baumgrenze
 
 

 

 

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 4:11 PM

As the owner of the Imgur picture, you see different tools than the rest of us.

Imgur also has two different "looks"

  1. You see a checkerboard of all your pictures
  2. You see an album of your pictures where the pictures are stacked vertically

Case 1:  Click on the picture you want to share, you will see only that picture and a list of links on the right, copy the BB (bulletin board) link

Case 2:  Scroll to the picture you want, hover your cursor over the top right, and choose get share links, copy the BB (bulletin board) link

When you get to the point in your post where you want to insert the picture, hit the control key and the letter v.  You will see a line of text, in the edit window, but it becomes a picture when you post it.

I did it a different way.  I right clicked on you picture and hit "copy image location"  That gave me a url address ending in a picture format .jpg  I then used the picture icon in the edit window and copied that address.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • 12 posts
Posted by baumgrenze on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 6:38 PM

Thank you, BigDaddy!

You can see in my edit that I got your result with your instructions.

baumgrenze

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