Which do you use? Manual, electric, both? What have you learned? Which would you repeat and which would you never, ever, ever do again.
I used EZ track electric switches on my first layout with indicator lights on my control board to tell which way they were thrown. They were easy to work on when they broke down--until they were ballasted then you had to rip everything up to get to the underside to work on them. I swore never again. Also, I'll never wire another control panel like that--just not needed. On my next track I used Humpyard switches. I dismantled the layout before I got a chance to really wring out the turnouts (I built them with fast tracks.) I really like the way they look and it felt like I was the tower guy. I mounted them on my fascia and they would catch on my clothes. I think I will use them again, but if I do, I'll design a way that they are out of the way. Most of the layouts I've operated on use caboose ground throws. I don't mind those and they are a very practical alternative. Certainly, they are easier to set up than Humpyard switches.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Humpyard switches in various mounting styles.
Chip,Since I hate loathe wiring I use manual switches with caboose Industries ground throws on my ISL which if you will recall is my favorite type of layout..
I like your "armstrong" switch throws..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I use Caboose Industries groundthrows wherever possible. On my new layout, I plan to use them almost exclusively. Easy to install, and much simpler than electric of any sort.
On my prior layout I had hidden staging (well, it was planned to be hidden), and the yard throats there were all powered. I had indicators on a central panel that showed how the switches were aligned. Reliable when finished, but very time consuming to install the system and debug fully.
I operate on several layouts with virtual CTC machines (computers switching mainline turnouts on command from the dispatcher). Local industry turnouts are generally thrown by hand (manual).
So it depends on what sort of operation you want.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Those look like good levers, but they are FAR TOO SMALL;
Here there be LION-SIZE Levers:
EWE can get your paws around these things. Each one activates a little SPST micro-switch, which selects either -12vdc (normal) or +12vdc (reversed). THERE IS ONE WIRE from each lever to each switch. LION uses a 25 pair cat-3 cable with patch panels every 10 to 15 feet around the layout. So much for wiring. That is the easy part.
LION likes Tortoises. They make good soup and come in their own bowls, and are so easy to install that it blows the competition away, far far away!So easy even a Mouse could do it.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I use both on my mini layout. I used the manual ones in the fornt of the layout where they are easy to reach, and used the remote electric ones where I could not reach.
I find I can switch the manual ones faster than I can get the switch to work the turnout on the electric ones!
Just my experience and preference.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
galaxyI find I can switch the manual ones faster than I can get the switch to work the turnout on the electric ones!
FASTER? You have to stop the train and allow your LPP conductor to walk over to the switch, throw it, and then either climb back onto the locomotive or wait for the train to pass, stop the train again, return the switch to the normal position and then WALK back to the cab, unless of course you have a caboose with an LPP brakeman in it.
As for the LION and his railroad, the switches are controlled by the tower, and the trains keep on moving.
Chip,
Since I use the Fast Tracks turnouts (with live frogs) on my layout, I've been using the CI 220S ground throws for switching the polarity. They work very well and I've been happy with them.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd still stick with manual turnouts but look seriously at the Blue Point turnout controls.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Chip, I built manual linkages out of wood for my last layout. They worked surprisingly well over the six years I used them. On my new build, I can reach everything, and a $0.03 bamboo kabob skewer extends my reach by about 8".
I prefer lining my train's route manually. I like the involvement. And, to back my friend Larry, and as I have admited here before, I am pathologically lazy. Building a functioning layout is a means to an end for me. It has never been about 'the journey'. What I don't have to carve, cut, screw, taper, shorten, glue, wire, solder,paint, weather, or scenic is just peachy.
If I ever decide I'd like the experience, and the use, of installing a Tortoise or some other device, I can always undertake that project on a bored week in any January. I'll have my pick of about 20 turnouts.
Crandell
My last two layouts had a combo of powered, manual, and manual to point of using my uncoupling tool to move the switch. My current layout, which is one of a few that actually has come to "complete" stage, as far as scenery, structures, etc., I use all Caboose ground throws, as I can reach everything. I like thought of the switcher stopping, the brakeman jumping off, throwing the switch, and jumping back on to step as the engine creeps by, or catching that last car that rolls by that he will be uncoupling a little further down the track. I used to spend my lunch time watching the WC and WSOR interchange and switch cars in down town Waukesha, WI while we were building the new State of WI office building. The way the guys did their job, from one car to the next, while the engine was in constant motion, back and forth, was quite a show. I'm adding an addition on to my current set up this coming winter, which will include a staging yard and balloon track. I should be able to reach everything, so I'll stick to ground throws.
Mike.
My You Tube
BroadwayLionEWE can get your paws around these things.
I don't see how that is possible. Lions don't have opposable thumbs.
I use both, manual where I can reach them and electric where it would be a long stretch to reach.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
maxman BroadwayLionEWE can get your paws around these things. I don't see how that is possible. Lions don't have opposable thumbs.
I'm pretty sure he could hook a claw.
Even when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a teenager, I used electric switch machines. I also prefer magnetic uncoupling to skewers. It's just me. There's something about building a layout that I don't have to reach into that appeals to me.
I've got a mixture of twin-coil machines and Tortoises. The twin-coils are driven with a capacitive discharge circuit. I went to a great deal of trouble to hide (almost) all of my Atlas code 100 machines beneath various forms of scenery. Code 83 Atlas machines are much smaller, and kind of disappear towards the back of the layout.
Since I installed my first Tortoise a few years back, I haven't bought anything else. I have one Atlas turnout that I bought but never used, but that may be the last one I ever put in.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hi Chip,
Electric switches for me, Tortoises specifically. Since I am a lone wolf modeler it is my intention to eventually to have all the switches DCC operated. Once that and signaling/block detection is complete I can hopefully get complex operating sessions going with JMRI. Remember its not just for programing decoders. And before someone puts me in the computer geek class, I am of an age where I made it through a 4 year degree without any computer class what so ever. I typed my papers on a typewriter. I can't build my own computer but so far I found JMRI easy to use.
of course, your mileage may vary
Derek
I use electric in hard to reach places, and manual Peco's everywhere else. I do have some Caboose hobbies where I have 2 Atlas turnouts. They work but I dislike the size of them.
The next layout will use Peco turnouts only, with scale size non operating switch stands. The spring in the Pecos works excellent.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
BroadwayLion galaxyI find I can switch the manual ones faster than I can get the switch to work the turnout on the electric ones! FASTER? You have to stop the train and allow your LPP conductor to walk over to the switch, throw it, and then either climb back onto the locomotive or wait for the train to pass, stop the train again, return the switch to the normal position and then WALK back to the cab, unless of course you have a caboose with an LPP brakeman in it. As for the LION and his railroad, the switches are controlled by the tower, and the trains keep on moving. ROAR
I am surprised a LION MONK would not know of the "HAND of God" method..very fast...and effective...
I like manual switches, with electric ones the 5 fingered switcher comes into play.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I tend to prefer manual for lower cost and simplicity, but I don't care much for Caboose Industries ground throws. I prefer under-table mechanisms with push rods or choke cables.
The two biggest reasons are that I don't much care for how the Caboose throws look (they're oversized so that you can actually throw them), and that I'm not keen on reaching into the scenery any more than I have to when running trains.
The other reason is the number of layouts I've run on where the builder used the Caboose throw to address moving the points, but then relied on point contact to conduct the power through the points and frog. That can make for a less-than-pleasant operating experience. It's less a failing of the product than of the installation, though. Other layouts where the builder installed some kind of leaf switch on the throw in addition to the Caboose industries mechanism worked much better and didn't cause an unwelcome distraction in the form of poor operation across the turnout.
I've installed a lot of DCC-controlled power turnouts for people, but prefer to not to use my throttle to throw turnouts.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
I like the Atlas under table machines. Simple, reliable and no reaching over cars, scenery or whatever. Using tortoises would be my next choice if the Atlas machines were not available.
Jim
fmilhaupt I've installed a lot of DCC-controlled power turnouts for people, but prefer to not to use my throttle to throw turnouts.
It's my preference to run my turnouts from fascia-mounted control panels, too. But, the last two I installed were in a location where that would be awkward, so I went with throttle-controlled DCC turnouts. They work well, and the button-pushing isn't as bad as I had thought. I may even expand this to some other turnouts associated with that switching job.
Soo Line fan I like the Atlas under table machines. Simple, reliable and no reaching over cars, scenery or whatever. Using tortoises would be my next choice if the Atlas machines were not available.
Atlas under-table machines are pretty much limited to those who use 1/4 inch roadbed on top of 3/4 inch plywood. Us 2-inch foam guys really can't use them, as they've only got a 1-inch riser to get to the throwbar.