Hello everyone. I am writing this as an eager, but albeit ignorant new participant in the art of model railroading. Here is the background information…while I have coveted a model railroad layout for over 4 decades, I am only now in a home in which there is room for such a luxury. I have been fortunate enough to have inherited my deceased uncle’s N scale 8 feet by 3 1/2 feet layout. Unfortunately, prior to his becoming ill, he had completely dismantled it, and was rebuilding it. He has the majority of the track layed, and all of the track that has been layed has been wired for power in a number of ‘zones’, and the turnouts (I believe this is the correct term) have also been wired to atlas brand switches. While testing the track and the two engines which I inherited, I found that the power works wonderfully for each section of the track. But, although the wires are all in place and connected, and he has tags indicating that he had check the switches (turnouts?) and they work, the switches do not seem to be doing anything.
Sorry for the very long preamble, but I thought it might be helpful to anyone who has the time to assist me with the following questions. I am so new to this hobby, or is it that I am inept? That I am not even sure which ‘poles’ to connect the power leads to the Tech3 controller that came with everything. My uncle had the two sets of leads connected to the two pairs of DC poles, and none to the AC poles. From what I have gathered in looking at the edition of the Model Railroader magazine that he had carefully bundled with the layout, it appears to me that the leads for the turnout switches should come from AC poles on the back of the Tech3 controller. I tried them first as my uncle had them on the DC poles, and the switches did not seem to do anything. I switched them to the AC poles as I believed they should be, and still nothing. So, whe
If they’re the standard Atlas control boxes, they should have two wires coming in from one side, connected to the power supply (terminals should be marked “accessories” or something similar), and three going out the top to the switch machine (the mechanism that actually throws the switch). Also, to operate, the Atlas control button needs to be slid to one side and pressed down. These are a momentary contact switch, so don’t hold it down, you’ll hear a click as the switch throws and you should immediately release the button.
For a good primer to model railroading, the National Model Railroad Assocaiation (NMRA) has an excellent webpage for beginners:
http://www.nmra.org/beginner/
Don’t feel bad, many of us “experienced” modelers have felt inept, even after much experience. You’ve alrady found a good place to ask questions.
Thank you so much for your answer to my question! From what I can remember of them, the switches are exactly as you have described them with the two wires coming from the power supply, and then three wires going off to the switch machine. I was not pressing the switch down after I slid it from one to the other side. I just hope that I haven’t done the switch machine any harm in my ignorant attempts at trying them! So, I am now looking forward to the day passing quickly so that I can try out the switches again and to have a look at the NMRA web site that you have recommended.
I would also like to thank you for your kind words in telling me not to feel bad for feeling inept! It helps to know that others feel the same way too!
Since you didn’t actually apply any power to the switch machine, it shouldn’t have hurt anything. I’m not familiar with the N Scale switch machines, but the HO ones have a tab that sticks up on the top of the switch machine, and you’ll see it move back and forth when the switch throws. If the N Scale ones have this, you can use this tab to throw the switch manually if you can reach it easily. Just a light push with a fingernail is enough to move it.
Thank you again for your help. I have now tested all of the switches, and they work wonderfully! The problem was my ignorance of how to ‘work’ the Atlas switch. And, you were right, the switch machines were all working fine when I had it hooked up properly and was working the switches correctly!