I used them on my first layout many, many years ago, still have all of the stuff, but am undecided as to whether to dig them out and use them on the new layout. Back then compressors weren’t that cheap but now they are and it seems as though my garage is the resting place for orphan compressors so the air is not a problem.
They sure bypass a lot of wiring, just not sure how well they’ll work 40 years later. I’m thinking of using a combination of Caboose Ind. on the mainlines with the air switches in the yards and the more inaccessable places.
My LHS use to sell them, but I never tried them. If I recall they are out of business now.
For ground throws I make my own with sub mini slide switches - because they will fit between 2" track centers - Caboose ground throws will not - and I need electrical contacts even on manual turnouts.
They don’t look like real ground throws, but on the other hand they are very small but eady to operate. Their small “foot print” is similar to the prototype.
I use tortoise machines for my “CTC” controlled turnouts and have a simple wiring scheme that allows one button routing through complex interlockings.
I do most “circuit wiring” on the workbench and then install it only needing to “hook up” the runs between control panels, relay/terminal panels and track or switch machines.
My tunrout contols can be repeated in multiple locations because they use LED lighted pushbuttons and they can be locked out by train detection just like on the prototype. And, with multiple locations, the “dispatcher” can be given the power to lock out local towers.
Air operated switches are marketed primarily today to the Garden Railroad people.
Del-Aire has been out of business for several years. The only company currently advertising air operated switches in Garden Railways Magazine is Sunset Valley Railroad, though I have seen others in past issues.
You might be able to get quicker answers to your questions on the Garden Railways Magazine forum or http://www.mylargescale.com
Sheldon, Sounds as though you have a fine system there however my entire reason for thinking about using them is because of the “simplicity” of the system, as in NO wiring of any kind and because I have no intention of hooking up “operating” block controls I can bypass the block wiring through the switches entirely.
Cacole, Thanks for the link, I checked them out but “my God”!!! The prices they have on their equipment!!! Sure glad I have a bundle of the stuff already or it would cost a small fortune to install it.
I guess I’ll just have to hook some of them up and see how it works out for me, been a lot of years but then there really isn’t anything to go wrong with them either. Now all I have to do is figure out which box they were put in before the move…ARGH!!
The club I used to belong to used them in their operating hump yard. This was conveninet as we used a pair of individually controlled nozzles as the retarder. They worked well, even though many of the components were quite old and came from one of the members’ previous layouts. Other than an occasional air hose popping loose, it worked quite well as the yard was continuously operatied during open houses.
While there is no wiring, there still are air hoses to run everywhere. If you need contacts for signaling or frog power, you’ll have to figure out how to mount a microswitch or two. I don’t know of any low cost small air solenoids that would allow operation of the air motors from other than the air toggles that go with them, so if you plan a dispatcher panel sort of thing this probbaly isn;t the way to go.
We used one of those small brad nailer type of compressors for an air source. It usually only ever turned on once every few hours while operating.
Don’t assume no wires means foolproof. I would rather check the resistance of a wire than look for a pinhole air leak. Besides, they are literaly 1940s technology and my understanding is they throw at about a scale 10,000 miles an hour.
First, a pinhole air leak isn’t that hard to find, a lot easier than a short circuit, and Second so what if the technology is 1940’s? Most technology we have today is over 100 years old, the “infernal combustion engine”, the nuclear steam engine, AKA Nuclear Power Plant, and on and on.
If we had to do away with all technology that is more than 40 years old today we’d all be walking again and in a lot of trouble.
The point is that just because something is “old technology” doesn’t mean it’s obsolete, if it doesn’t you had better be prepared to do without a lot of what you are using today and have been for the last century.
Mark
P.S. We’re still using chemical fueled rockets to get into space, and how many centuries ago were the Chinese using rockets???
Del-Aire switch motors were pretty gentle on track work and the air pressure could be adjusted so they would throw slowly.
A club I belonged to 30 years ago had them all over the place and the system was much more reliable than twin-coil machines, and quieter than screw drives.
I’m not sure if anyone figured out how to run a ladder of Del-Aires with a diode matrix, though.
Thing is, after spending a few nights east of Indianapolis Union Station listining to CSX throw those pneumatic switches, I too thought the concept to be pretty neat. I’m curious to hear how this goes.