I use predominantly Atlas turnouts and in my industrial district, I am using Caboose Ind. ground throws for the turnouts. Because of the close quarters involved, their are places where another track does not leave room for a ground throw on the side the Atlas turnout is designed to have a switch machine installed. To put the ground throw on the opposite side, I had thought of gluing an extension rod on the other side and drilling a hole in it for the ground throw but I wonder if this would hold up over the long term. I also wonder if the added thickness would cause the throwbar to bind.
I was wondering if others had tried something similar or had another technique to mount a ground throw on the “wrong” side of an Atlas turnout.
You can actually reverse the throw bar. Carefully pry up the tabs holding the points to the throwbar and slip the points out. Turn the throwbar around and slide it back into the turnout. Then press the points back into the tabs.
I too use atlas & caboose Ind. ground throws. If you do it carefully, the throw bar on the Atlas turnouts can be reversed. Gluing will not work as you described because of the type of plastic used.
We have a couple of places on our HO scale club layout where Caboose Industries ground throws are connected to the turnout(s) using piano wire that runs under two or three tracks.
I cut a groove for the piano wire with a dremel cutoff wheel or utility knife, slip the paino wire through brass tubing of the required length, cut and shape the ends of the piano wire to fit, and then cover the tubing with scenery and/or ballast.
The NMRA has a good outline of how to hook up a Caboose Industries Ground Throw at: http://www.nmra.org/beginner/ground_throw.html I have been using this technique, when necessary, for a couple years now. For some of my difficult to reach turnouts, I am running the wire in 1/16 tubing for a distance of up to a foot. I never had much luck reversing the throwbar, because things just never went together quite right. Of course I haven’t tried it with the new generation of atlas turnouts, as in the code 83s. Regards Peter conford
I’m using Atlas Customline turnouts. The first couple I slipped the point rails out of the throw bar and reversed it, which worked fine but does stress the turnout a bit. Then I hit on a better solution. Rather than use the T-shaped end of the throw bar to connect to the ground throw, I cut it off and instead linked the ground throw to the throw bar via a short length of stiff wire. On one end, I bent the wire up at 90 degrees and inserted the end into the hole in the CENTER of the ground throw. The other end was also bent up at 90 degrees and inserted through the hole in the ground throw. I did have to enlarge the hole with a small drill bit. I cut of the portion of the ground throw with the pin. The wire is long enough to place the ground throw about the same distance from the track as the pin through the T-shaped end would be. Be careful not to mount it so close as to interfere with the rolling stock. It makes very little difference which side of the track the ground throw is mounted on. I fact, with a longer wire it should be possible to span several inches if necessary.
Here are a couple shots of routing brass rod under a set of tracks, to connect a Caboose Ind ground throw to adjoning turnout. I cut a notch in the plastic between the ties of the near track with a dremel cut off wheel to allow the rod, making sure not to expose the rails. This is the only instance on the club layout where this needed to be done.
If you “paint” the piano wire extension with heavy oil before ballasting, the ballast won’t even stick to it. I have done this for years with excellent success.
