Does anyone know where I might find on the internet a diagram showing how to construct a remote ‘control’ for turnouts? The type I’m thinking of consists of a piece of wire running through the fascia and either bends at a 90 degree angle up to the turnout, or maybe connects to some type of slide switch or other device that’s mounted to the bottom of the layout. I’ve seen them on some layouts but I don’t know how the ‘push/pull’ action on the wire is transferred to a back and forth sideways action to throw the turnout.
I’ve heard of people using automobile manual choke cables for turnout controls. (Is that what your talking about?) They usually come with a variety of mounting brackets that can be modified.
In particular, look at the flexible cables (basically the same as automotive “choke cables”, where there’s a flexible wire inside of a slightly stiffer tube) and the bellcrank.
Once upon a time I had a layout that used Peco turnouts. I tied 3# test fishline to the pin on either side, ran it though a hole in the layout and through one in the fascia and attached red and green beads to the end. A little pull on the appropriate line moved the turnout.
And with that being said I guess you could use just about anything you could imagine if it’s tested properly. The only question I have is are the “throttle cables” stiff enough to hold the points in place or do the points need to have that spring (can someone show how to do these?) to keep the points against the rails? Hmmm, Hmmm, Hmmmm??? [?]
Great post by the way, and ndbprr, I’d be willing to try that idea of yours just for the heck of it. I’m a hi-tech person by trade but something like that has a unique interest for me. [:)]
Try going to www.humpyard.com and take a look at this idea. You could rig up your own manual switches by running wire through some small diameter plastic tubing. That is what I am thinking of doing myself.
Don’t know since I haven’t tried it but the stiff spring on the Peco turnouts should hold the points in place using the fishing line method, just like it does if you reach over and flip it by hand. I think the string would have to come up an inch of so away from the turnout, on both sides, and not right up under the ends of the throw bar to work.
I’ve seen them used quite effectively on all types of turnouts. Peco switches are easy, 'cause they have the “overcenter spring” built into them. I suppose if one was industrious enough, one could always figure out a way of adding one to any brand of switch. [:)]
As for the spring itself, it’s basically just a short piece of wire (in the case of the Peco ones, about 3/8" long, bent at a 90 degree angle, with the ends bent down (same direction) at a 90 degree angle. From the top, it would look something like this:
|_ (ignore the gap between the lines)
You’d mount one end in the throwbar, and the other end in the adjoining tie. The trick is to have just enough tension on it to hold the points to one side or the other. That way, when the throwbar is in the middle (halfway thrown), the spring is compressed, and when the points are thrown either direction, the spring is uncompressed as much as possible, holding the points to the rail.
I use 1/4 in dowel with a turned wood knob on the end as a push rod. Its attached to the handle of a Radio Shack DPDT toggle switch (to control frog polarity) with a piano wire linkage up to the throw bar. I mount the toggle bu taking a 1"x2" piece of masonite, drilling a hole in the center to mount the toggle and then “clamping” it to the underside of the layout by using 4 bugle head drywall screws (arranged like this, with b the toggle. :-b-:). I use thin brass rod to connect the dowel to the handle. It can also be used to connect the piano wire to the handle if you want to arrange it that way.
In most cases the piano wire linkage has a vertical piece with a 90 degree bend on either end. In the top leg the end is bend up or down to fit in a hole in the throwbar of the switch. The bottom leg can be straight, bent or formed in a loop depending on how you connect your linkage. I cut a triangular piece of cork roadbed out, with the bas of the triangle under the throwbar and the point of the triangle about 3/4-1 in away on the centerline of the track. I drill a hole through the benchwork at the point of the triangle. I then take a several inch long piece of piano or brass wire, bend a 90 degr bend about 1 in from the end and then bend the end of the short leg UP (the short leg being the distance from the hole in the benchwork to the hole in the throwbar, I use the hole in the center of the throwbar.) The wire is dropped in the hole. A thin piece of plastic or card is cut to completely cover the triangle in roadbed and a slot is cut crossways in the cover as about 1/2 in long and as wide as the throwbar. The cover is glued to the roadbed with the wire sticking up through the slot. the wire should be able to swing back and forth freely. I then put the switch over the mechanism, feeding the rod through the hole in the throwbar. Trim the wire off below the tops of the rail Yo
I used some of the choke cables on my last layout as an experiment. While they worked, they are very cumbersome and hard to install and adust. The cable sheath in most cases has to be cut, and so does the wire. Which I bent a 90 degrees and inserted through the throw bar. The main advantage is that they can be snaked around obstacles and eventually installed at 90 degrees to the turnout. They have enough friction that keeping the points closed is not a problem.
I am going to experiment with 1/4 inch plastic tubing with an internal wire. I plan to make a “switch machine” to go under each turnout that will have a slide switch for polaritycontrol and a vertical rod to the throwbar end so I don’t have to drill a hole between the rails. It will have a screw and washer on it to clamp the wire in place enabling precise adjustment.
I can make a batch of these on the work bench, stick the bar up into a hole in the throw bar and screw them in place.
The latest iteration of my remote turnout control uses fishing line (always in tension) to power the points through a homemade Anderson link (vertical tube through the roadbed, horizontal arm from the tube to the throw bar, vertical torsion bar, horizontal arm at the bottom at right angles to the attached fishing line. The arms and torsion bar are a straightened and re-bent paper clip.)
The “normal” point setting is held by weights (either fishing weights or used 1/4 inch/20 nuts) while the “reverse” point setting is achieved by pulling the other fishing line. Pull is provided either by a twin-coil switch machine mounted just inside the fascia or by an electrical switch (with a hole drilled in the handle for the fishing line) reachable through a slot in the fascia.
The nice thing about the fishing line is that the “wire guides” are the cheapest small ring screws available at the local hardware or home improvement outlet - way less than any other alternative.
I wouldn’t advise doing such a system if the turnout is over 1’ from the fascia. I did such a system on my last layout and it didn’t work out too well. I used the piano wire at first and it was too springy and wouldn’t hold the point rails in place. Then i used brass rod and it was just too stiff and eventually the whole thing fell apart at the soldered joints that were made at the horizontal to vertical positions under the turnout. Why don’t you look into those ground turnout throws that mount next to the turnout like the one’s made by rix or caboose hobbies, atlas coil turnout machines, or use a tortoise machines with a DP/DT switch. They will work a whole lot better than the piano wire / auto cable / brass wire method.
