GETTING BACK INTO HO SCALE AFTER THIRTY YEAR ABSENCE. ALMOST ALL OF THE TURNOUTS WE SEE LISTED FOR SALE DO NOT HAVE A SWITCH MOTOR ON THEM.CAN THEY BE FITTED WITH A REMOTE STYLE SWITCH MOTOR?? THANKS..
Welcome back. There are a lot of us who have returned in the last few years.
For remote control of turnout, there are two o[ptions.
1. Electrical - The most popular is Tortoise. Learn about these, they are nice. There are other brands, including the old Atlas with top of layout motors. Few would recommend these today.
2. Manual - there are many variations of the old choke cable approach, but I have found and become of fan of Humpyard switch levers. They are great.
Do some research and ask a lot of questions. You will get a lot of answers, some of which are useful.
GETTING BACK INTO HO SCALE AFTER THIRTY YEAR ABSENCE. ALMOST ALL OF THE TURNOUTS WE SEE LISTED FOR SALE DO NOT HAVE A SWITCH MOTOR ON THEM.CAN THEY BE FITTED WITH A REMOTE STYLE SWITCH MOTOR?? THANKS.
Atlas and Peco offer machines for their switches (turnouts). Others, such as Rix, and Tortoise make Universal switch machines, and Caboose Industries with manual throws. Each have different mounting requirements.
What is important is Twin coil types, and Motor driven types, have different electrical and actuation requirements.
A Walthers catalog will show you pictures and prices.
I grew up in a railroad town in southern Illinois that had both Illinois Central and Missouri Pacific main lines and roundhouse facilities, and I never heard them called anything but switches by the railroad people. I never heard the term "turnout" used until I got into HO scale modeling.
As others have pointed out, I think the term turnout was coined to end the confusion between a track switch and an electrical switch, but Wikipedia and Answers.com both refer to them by both terms, as well as the British "Points."
http://www.answers.com/topic/railroad-switch.
tatans wrote:This is sort of a sidebar to "turnouts" I'm a thousand years old, grew up in a small city with a mammoth railway divisional point, everyone worked for the railway, we played on the property, I worked on the ice gang at 18, I never heard the term "turnout" until recently, the term I use is "switch" and so does everyone I know, I have heard the term "switchman" but never "turnoutman" Is turnout a local term?? is it strictly an American term? is it a correct technical term and is it a newer term ?? thanks.
It apparently is a difference between operating crews and engineering departments in some cases. I have a number of ATSF prototype engineering drawings that use the word turnout. This is usually referring to the whole assembly (like what we modelers buy) as opposed to just the moving points, which seem more often to be referred to as "switch". Most of these documents date back to the 1930's, although "turnout" is also used in later prototype documents I have or have seen.
Jon
turn‧out /ˈtɜrnˌaʊt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[turn-out] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun 1.the gathering of persons who come to an exhibition, party, spectacle, or the like: They had a large turnout at the meeting. 2.quantity of production; output. 3.an act of turning out. 4.the manner or style in which a person or thing is equipped, dressed, etc. 5.equipment; outfit. 6.a short side track, space, spur, etc., that enables trains, automobiles, etc., to pass one another or park. 7.Ballet. the turning out of the legs from the hips, with the feet back to back or heel to heel. 8.Railroads. a track structure composed of a switch, a frog, and closure rails, permitting a train to leave a given track for a branching or parallel track. Compare crossover (def. 6). [Origin: 1680–90; n. use of v. phrase turn out] Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.