New to the forums and first time posting so please excuse any rookie mistakes…Does anyone have any experience using the Hump Yard Purveyance mechanical track turnout levers? I’m considering using them on my newly started N scale layout and was wondering what your thoughts are on these. Interested in finding out how easy they are to assemble/install, how well they work, and how sturdy they are. For those unfamiliar with these levers they can be viewed at www.humpyard.com.
Don in Maryland
I haven’t used them, but they do look interesting. I might just have to think about them for our club layouts yard ladder.
And for an active link. . . . . . www.humpyard.com
MY levers are far more sturdy…
But then, those are not what you wanted, are they?
ROAR
I purchased 10 a couple of years back ,installed them last year and ordered 30 more. I think they are great after the first couple they got easy to install and adjust. I used the method where you drill a hole ,3/8 as I remember centered under the throw bar. I bent the Stainless steel wire at a right angle from underneath leaving it long enough to come up through the throw bar rivet .You can then use the supplied clamps to adjust the throw by clamping the teflon tube moving the tube to make the adjustment .They are very easy to assemble . I have installed them from 1and 1/2 feet to 4 feet away, I will be doing another yard where some may use the full length of six feet of tubing. I have also used leftover tubing to feed throw from twin coil switch machines mounted to the side of the track.I ran tubing from the machine under the rails of some tracks to the throw bars of switches. They work great! You can also use this method for the Humpyard throws There several methods of mounting in their instructions.
Ron High
Interesting and look great. Not too much more than buying choke cable kits, especially if bought in bulk ($7 ea) Just would take up a bit of space if the yard needed a dozen or more, guess you could arrange in a couple of staged rows.
Lion, that’s a unique method of placing quite a few manual throws. What type of “levers/ handles” are they?
Depending on how elaborate you want to get, and what era you modeling you may want to consider modeling the inside of an interlocking tower using those small levers.
Levers on the outsides of the row of levers are painted red and control the signals.
Levers in the middle are black (or green) and control the switch points.
When looking at the model board the levers on the left control trains moving left to right while the levers on the right control trains moving right to left.
If you have any derails, those levers might be painted blue. If you use a lever to control crossing gates, they might be painted yellow.
When using these old “Armstrong” levers, it always required two levers to move a set of switch points. One lever was the lock, the other was the points. The towerman would first have to unlock the switch by pulling the locking lever to the open position, he could then align the switchpoints with the switch lever, He would then have to close the locking lever. If the locking lever was not closed he could not display the approach signal, but instead would have to go down to the tracks to find and fix whatever was blocking the action of the switch points.
Below the floor of the switch tower was the interlocking matrix, a system of bars that would block the movement of a lever until all of the other conditions for the movement of that lever have been met.
On a GRS machine, such as I have shown above, if a switch lever could not be moved, then there is a logical conflict that must be cleared first. Then when you pull the lever it will only move about half way. In this movement it will lock any levers that would now conflict with the new position of this lever. It would also send an electrical signal to the motors operating the switch points or semaphores controlled by that lever. Once the device has moved and locked into position, a return signal is sent back to the GRS machine which would allow the operator to complete the movement of the contr
I just order 4 today. I will be out of pocket for a week for spring break trains at our local library. As, soon as I get the levels in and install them, I will let every one know. Well better get modules ready for set-up on Saturday. Ace24 in Lubbock, Texas
Don,
I have about 30 of the levers connected to N scale Peco electrofrog turnouts. The wires that come with the package are long enough to reach my farthest turnouts and with careful configuring even very short runs are possible.
The thing to keep in mind is that there are different ways to connect the wires to the turnouts. Some tweaking and careful planning leads to quite effective solutions. Sharp bends in the control wire, from turnout to lever, can mean that the lever and wire combination is a little stiff. However, I made large loops even for short runs to make everything smoother (unless it was a direct line).
I liked being able to group the wires (and subsequently the levers), for example my yard turnouts are controlled from one fascia location.
The best approach is to take your time and think each method of connection through carefully. The instructions that come from Humpyard are good but I found I had to be very adaptable. If you bottom mount the wires to the turnouts then short lengths of right angle bends are critical so there is sufficient spring to operate the turnout. I used additional fine diameter metal tubing to support the small operating lever arm. If you look at their instructions on the website you will see what I mean.
I like the levers, bit of a fiddle to get them working well and time consuming but after the first couple it gets easier.
Roger