Are all K-line switches of the 027 height/profile? On ebay and elsewhere I see their switches in 027 and 042 curves but there are a lot of different numbers. Anyone have a list of their numbers and what years, manual, remote etc?
No, not at all.
K-line did make some O27 profile switches. The bases on all of these were molded in brown plastic, to match the MPC and later Lionel O27 track and switches. These came in remote and manual. There was an earlier version, which used two big colored incandescent lamps next to each other for direction indicators. The later version used the low profile motor housing, with two LEDs. These were made as both O27 and O42 switches.
They also made a couple of different switches in O gauge. As far as I know, all had O42/30 degree curved pathsm although they may have also made an O31 switch. I’m not positive about that. All also were molded with a base of black plastic. These were also available as auto or manual, and could have either the big two light motor, or the smaller DZ-1000 style motor. The later ones, at least, were part of the Shadowrail system, which used plastic close-spaced ties and had a blackened center rail, but was otherwise fully compatible with standard O track.
I have one of these on my layout, and it’s a great switch. Interestingly enough, Lionel liked it well enough that’s now cataloged unchanged, save for the higher price, as part of their standard O line of track.
The supersnap system also had its own switches. This system was O-gauge height and with O gauge profile rails, but used snap tabs to hold the track together rather than pins. These switches were available in O31, O72, and possibly a few other diameters. All, as far as I know, were remote and had the low profile(DZ-1000 style) motor.
“K-2xx” models are O-27.
“K-3xx” models are O.
Rob
Boyd, some guy has taken the info from the old MDK K-Line website (well, as much as was available) and started a K-Line Legacy website, which has as many of the original web pages as he could get. Here’s a link for the track page, where you can also navigate to the many other pages:
http://www.legacykline.com/apps/kl/catalog.html?useraction=item&p_item_type=Track
That should help you out, save for one tidbit: In 2001 when MDK K-Line announced the new low profile 027 and 0 switches, the item numbers remained the same, which causes some confusion. The only real way to know the difference is to actually see the switch itself or to see the packaging it came in. The newer style switches came in the newer yellow and black boxes, versus the prior white and blue boxes or the black and gold boxes.
Just seeing the numbers on someone’s price list or inventory list will not tell you whether it is the new low profile type or the older ones. Though it is safe to say, since the new switches were introduced towards the end of MDK K-Line, that the older style ones are FAR more plentiful and readily available than the newer ones.
Despite the ridiculously large switch boxes (yes, even worse than the Lionel MPC-to-date ones), I think the K-Line switches (at least the 027 ones) are of a better design and actually perform better than the Lionel ones, save for the switch box size.
Yeah, I’m an old K-Line fan from the very early beginnings - long before most who say they are today. I started missing K-Line when they turned away from the products that got them started in the first place.
Thank you for the link. I think I have about 9 of the modern K-line 42" switches. I printed that link. I see they have the following in the list of 42" switches:
K-0273 LH manual
K-0274 RH manual
K-0275 LH remote
K-0276 RH remote
Then there is:
K-0373 LH manual
K-0374 RH manual
K-0375 LH remote
K-0376 RH remote
All of the ones that I have are K-02xx series.