I just won an Ebay auction this morning for a buttload of turnouts (27 LH switches). I bid on a whim and figured I’d get outbid while at church this morning so I didn’t give it much thought. When I got home and checked, I had won! 27 switches for $14.95! Are these switched crap or did I luck out on a great deal? They’re listed as Casadio made in Italy. They look pretty decent so I figured I’d bid a few bucks and wouldn’t lose much if they were junk. Any opinions on Casadio brand? Here’s a link to the auction below. If it doesn’t work, the Ebay item # is 330034997509 Ebay Auction for Casadio Switches
I don’t think Casadio is still in business. I friend thought he was doing our club a favor by giving us a cigar box full of old turnouts from the 1950s, and there were a couple of brass Casadio turnouts among them. They were busted up so it was impossible to use any of them. They appear to have been a very shoddy product.
Did you notice that they are all left hand turnouts?
When you receive your turnouts, they will no doubt all have brass rail.
I never was brave enough to connect a power pack to one of these and see if they actually still worked.
Thanks for the feedback. Well, at least it was only a $20 learning experience. Of course I intend to honor the auction and pay for them. Could be $20 worth of parts in that lot anyway. I’m not opposed to them just because they’re brass, I’ve got a mix of brass and NS track that I’ve been amassing while in the beginning phase of my layout. I wouldn’t mix the two on my mainline, but I think I’ll be okay using the brass rail on some sidings. I’m thinking some of these switches might be usable on sidings that are near the layout edge. If not, you’ll see them again on Ebay.
You can use them for staging, don’t use them outside. They’ll begin to oxidize and you won’t get current through. But really you’ll find some type of use for them.
