Has anyone come up with a way to convert a Lionel Fastrack MANUAL switch to be operated remotely via an electrical switch?
Thanks
TMT
Nothing that would be easy or cheap. The manual switches use a rack and pinion arrangment to throw the switch and the manual non derail function is achieved by a clever pivot/ballance spring assembly located at the hinge point under the switch. You could rig something up using a standard switch motor but you would have to adapt the throw distance to accomodate the rack and pinion assembly.
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Chuck, never messed with them so not sure. Could you do the āold choke cableā thing? Too complicated?
I think that in the end, it would be cheaper, easier and take less time to simply replace the manual switch with a remote version. I donāt know that the manual switch lends itself to after-market switch machines. Impossible? No. A good idea? Ehhhh.
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This is along the lines of what I was thinking but it is probably more trouble than itās worth. The choke cableās arenāt exactly cheap and then there are issues of routing and secure mounting so it wonāt shift/sproing at an inopportune moment[:)]
You could probably rig up a standard twin coil device to a cam/lever on one of the manual switches and then adjust the pivot point to get the throw travel correct but it becomes an issue of how much time you want to spend and how much you value that time.
Iāve taken apart both the manual and remote FastTrack switches and they are both nicely done and they work very well in their respective rolls but from the underside, they have very little in common which makes a retrofit kit problematic.
Thanksā¦that is the info I neededā¦an assessment of the inner workings of both switches.
I would agree that one would have to deal with the conversion with an external attachmentā¦which would take more time than it is worth.
A thoughtā¦could a person remove the internal mechanism of the MANUAL switch and completely replace it with Lionel parts from the REMOTE switch (assuming Lionel sells the replacement parts for the REMOTE switch cheaply)?
TMT
I think there are way too many parts involved and the cost would not make sense. Iāve got photoās of the guts of a manual switch somewhere on line. Iāll try to find them. The remote switch is pretty tightly packed and I believe the parts that are molded into the underside of the switch to allow the manual auto derail to work were āmissingā (this is actually a very ingenious pendulum/spring arrangement that allows a small nudge of the points to trigger the switch to flip). The tooling used to make the bases is either multi part and die changed for manual/remote or there are two seperate dies.
Iād always wondered the same thing because the price difference between manual and remote Fastrack switches is significant for us folks on tight train budgets. Is the non-derail functionality the main issue? The Bluepoint switch machines always catch my eye:
Was curious if anyone had ever tried to use them with Fastrack switchesā¦
O-36 remoteās guts. A lot of stuff in there: 
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Thanks for posting the pictures.
I agreeā¦there is no economical way of converting one to the other type using Lionel parts.
One might be able to attach a actuator on to the manual Fastrack switch to activate it mechanically but again time is money.
One thing that surprises me in the picture of the remote switch is how fragile the motor/rack mechanism looks. It makes me wonder how Fastrack will hold up over time.
Your thoughts as to the robustness of Fastrack?
TMT
The only abuse that might damage it is someone trying to throw the switch manually while blocking the points physically. The dual pivot design requires very little force to throw, particularly on the manual units. The manual switch will flip when a train approaches from the āwrong wayā.
Leave it to Linalda make something simple very difficult and confusing
Open her up and put a servo attached with wire to the tie bar.
I know this is a really old post but it was actually one of the first ones that showed me what the underside of these remote switches look like so I wanted to contribute (also people continue to come across these old threads so updated information is not just relvant to the OP).
Manual swithces (or broken remote switches for that matter) simply need something to move them back and forth a certain distance.
There is actually a great deal written about this now and lots of mechanical options that use cables in sleeves. For example: http://www.humpyard.com/ and people have even experimented with using lawnmower choke control cables to achieve something similar on a really tight budget.
There are also a number of options that mount under the layout. For example: http://www.ppw-aline.com/Blue_Point_Manual_Turnout_Control.htm
There is a simple and very economical way to do this. I described this on p.17 of the TTOS magazine The Bulletin March/April 2008.
do you have a link BobhWalker?
I found a relatively inexpensive way to transform a Fastrack manual switch to remote operation; not very elegant but fit the bill for me. Utilized a switch motor from an old O27 switch and wired up the Fastrack switch in a similar fashion, essentially duplicating the O27 switch operation. A little electrical knowledge is helpful, as it took me some time with the multimeter to get the coil leads and track wires correct to maintain the similar switch operations. The connection of the switch motor piston to the Fastrack switch stand arm was a R/C ākwik-linkā rod end, similar to what Bob Walker described for his set up. Remote operation uses the wired O27 switch controller. The cost was minimal, <$20 if you already have a working O27 switch to cannibalize. Worked on the prototype over a weekend, however, I expect subsequent switch conversions should only take a couple hours after that. Will likely 3D print a cover piece for over the switch motor to clean up the look.
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Hats off to SoCalDave!
My process would have had two steps.
Step One: sell the manual switch and convert it into the coin of the realm.
Step Two: convert the coin of the realm into a remote switch by buying one.
I realize that additional input of coin will be necessary, but my two-step conversion is more my speed.
