After running on Bachman EZ trunouts, I can see the value in tortoise machines. But when I look at how many will be needed for my classification yard–well I’m not thinking about it and taking a lot of CoQ10 in case my mind starts adding it up on its own.
Did you put tortoises in your classification yard. Is there a reason why it is more or less desirable than putting them on your mainline? What about your staging yard?
Personally, with over 200 feet of mainline laid and well over 30 switches (so far), I don’t have a single switch machine in place. And I designed my layout that way. Partially, it’s a cost thing: why spend money on switch machines when I can reach them all from the aisle? Partially, it’s a clearance thing: with a multileve layout, switch machines can eat up a lot of valuable vertical space. Finally, I actually LIKE manually throwing switches! I’m using Peco, so they’ve already got a sort of manual throw device built in.
I will have a few switch machines in place eventually. There are a few areas on my upper level which will be very hard to manually throw. And I’ll probably automate my one major classification yard, if my yardmasters ask for it. But I’ll be using twin-coil machines rather than Tortise slo-mo machines. They both work equally as well, and both can route track power, but I see no need to pay more for the Tortii. The whole case pro versus con concerning the “harsh” twin coil machines seems to me to be a “Ford vs. Chevy” sort of arguement. (and I’m a Jeep man)
Me too.
i use manually thrown turnouts wherever I can reach them easily. It’s much less expensive and much simpler. On those few turnouts that are hard to reach I use Tortoise machines and recommend them highly.
Have Fun,
Tom Watkins
I’m powering all of mine. 22 turnouts on this section alone. I just pick up a few Tortoise every couple of weeks to spread the cost out. No way woud I be able to just go get all of them at once. Right now I have all but two, I gotta get working on track laying again and get this thing completed.
–Randy