Hi All:
I ordered a dozen Caboose Hobby N Scale ground throws and as I went to install the first one near a fishing dock I was struck by a scale problem: The dock workers would have to be about 80 feet tall to throw these switches. If these are to scale, then I need new glasses.
Is this something with which I have to deal or are their other options outside of Tortoise products since I want to throw my switches by hand?
Thanks.
Rob.
Rob: Your other options for hand throwing turnouts depends on what brand turnouts you are using. Peco turnouts have a spring in them, that allows them to be hand thrown and stay there. Atlas do not have springs, so you need something to hold the point rails against the stock rails.
I use Peco and throw them literally by hand. Just put your finger between the points and pull or push gently. The spring keeps it as thrown. Been doing this for years.
A couple of tangential issues with hand throwing Pecos, if you are thinking about them. If you are using Electrofrog turnouts, you also need a way to change the polarity of the frog to assure good loco movement thru the turnout. I use Frog Juicers, which are an electronic swich soldered with one wire to the frog. They work great.
The second issue, which the Juicers help but don’t totally elimnate on Peco Electrofrog turnouts is loss of electrical continuity between the points and the closure rails. This “stock” connection is a rail joiner like pivot point, that can become unreliable for electrical continuity after a time. I install small jumpers (28 or 30 ga) from the closure rails to the point rails around this pivot. This works great, and is reasonably easy to do at the workbench before installation. If the turnouts are installed, it’s still not too bad, but isn’t a picnic.
Once these modifications are made, the turnouts work perfectly.
If you select Peco Insulfrog, the jumpers are needed still, but the juicers are not.
Joel
The “N Scale” Caboose ground throws are not to scale.
(Well, not to N scale, at least: the HO guys find them pretty handy)
I started using them a few years back because they’re fun to throw (especially for the kids), but I quickly regretted using them because of 1) their enormous “catapult” appearance:
Which really throws off photos, and 2) they do not power the frogs.
In N scale, unless you’re driving SD70MACs over #5 turnouts, you really need to power your frogs.
You can use the Peco turnouts with the springs, add a bent staple to the Atlas but neither powers the frogs as well, so you’d have to use the FrogJuicer in conjunction with them.
Or you can use a slide switch to both throw the bar and power the frog:
(When I finish scenicking it won’t stand out as much)
However, most slide switches’ travel distance does not match the turnout’s throwbar, so you need to either put a Z-bend in the wire or, if you handlay your turnouts as I do, make the points slightly closer together (as in the photo above).
Personally, I prefer using the Bullfrog from Fast Tracks: a well-designed, easy-to-assemble machine that also powers the frog. If your benchwork is 18" or less, you don’t even need the control rods, as you can attach a dowel to the swing arm:
I am not knowledgeable about Peco turnouts, but wouldn’t he Insulfrog units require the frog juicers rather than the Electrofrogs?
Dante
Dante: No, because the Insulfrog turnouts use plastic frogs, hence, nothing to power. The Electrofrog turnout uses a metal frog.
You could try these. http://www.humpyard.com/ There is several different way to mount them.
