Coordinating Turnout positions?

[doctorwayne]

I don't know if it will be of any use for your situation, Dave, but I recently motorised several turnouts using Rapido's RailCrew motors.

Two of them, on the two-track line through Lowbanks, form a crossover.  With the motors connected to the throw bars, I used clip-on jumper wires to power each motor, in-turn, so that the points were aligned for straight-through operation, then wired them to the same fascia-mounted momentary contact switch which will activate them both at the same time.
A flip of the switch activates the turnouts as a crossover, and another flip re-aligns both tracks to straight through.  There's no possibility of creating a conflicting route.
I run several of these motors  and some other ones from Fulgurex, using a 12 volt wall wart - except for this pair, only one motor at a time needs to be activated, so the power supply is never overtaxed.

Wayne

 

[gregc]

hon30critter

imagine that turnout #1 will require that turnout #2 be aligned with it when #1 is set for the through route, but turnout #3 will have to be aligned when #1 is set to the diverging route.

yes

a single togle switch can be wired to multiple Tortoise machines

wire the 2nd Tortoise so that its polarity is the same as the 1st Tortoise when they need to be aligned together.   this means possibly swapping the wires to pins 1 & 8 on the Tortoise machine.

and wire the 3rd tortoise so that its polarity is the same as the 1st Tortise when 1 & 3 need to be aligned.

yes, the 3rd turnout position will depend on #1 (are you sure about this)?

a possibly example (but has 3 positions requiring 2 toggle switches)

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

Yes Dave it can easily be done a number of different ways.

I use lighted push buttons and relays, or you can do what Rich did with solid state components.

If there are truly only two choices for the whole route, I can do it with just two push buttons and two relays. Three routes, three buttons and three relays.

This drawing is for a wye, but this same schematic would work with any track arrangement with three routes:

Push one button, all turnouts move tothe correct position. The switch motors are controlled using the lower circuit shown on this diagram. This second diagram works for two routes, no mater how many turnouts.

With a track diagram, I could draw up the specific circuit you would need. Quality surplus relays can generally be found for $1 each.

Sheldon

[richhotrain]

Dave, I have done that in my passenger train station which routes trains through a 10-track ladder.

To accomplish the routing, I use an NCE Mini Panel with a pushbutton control panel. The turnouts are controlled by an NCE Switch-8 and an NCE Switch-It.

Press a button and the designated routing occurs with some turnouts using the straight route and some turnouts using the divergent route. The Mini Panel is the key, and it uses simple programming commands delivered to the turnouts via the Switch-8 and the Switch-It.

There is no limit to the number of turnouts involved in the routing, although more complex routes may require more than one Switch-8 or Switch-It.

Can you post the desired track route plan?

Rich

[gmpullman]

A sketch would be helpful, Dave  

Are the three turnouts all facing point? Or is it like a crossover situation?

Personally, I'll stick to my rotary switch as I did for this three-way at the steel mill:

3Way_TO by Edmund, on Flickr

Two Tortoises, three routes, simple wiring, easy visual and tactical feel.

I'm sure you'll get far better suggestions than mine. 

Good Luck, Ed

[hon30critter]

Hi folks,

My planned layout has several situations where two turnouts that are close together will need to be switched at the same time in order to provide a clear route. I will be using Tortoises with toggle switches for control.

My question relates to the wiring needed so that if I select a given route through one turnout by flipping a single toggle switch, the next turnout in that route will also switch to the correct position. To complicate things, in some cases both routes will require that the next turnout also moves to the correct position. To provide an example, imagine that turnout #1 will require that turnout #2 be aligned with it when #1 is set for the through route, but turnout #3 will have to be aligned when #1 is set to the diverging route. Can I do this with just one toggle switch for turnout #1?

Thanks,

Dave