Dave, You will have to disconnect the cycloid from the switch to stop the bussing or disconnect the de-railing feature. It is the de-railing feature that causes the noise. Not connect the remote won’t help.
Tom is right that you need to disconnect the anti-derailing feature. But it is just about as easy to modify the switch for accessory voltage, in which case you can eliminate all buzzing and danger of burnout by supplying that voltage as dc from a 5000-microfarad capacitor, charged through a 100-ohm resistor, and fed through a diode from the ac accessory voltage.
Tom, “cycloid”? Do you mean “solenoid”?
Those K-Line switches would make it too easy and take all the fun out of it for me! The challenge is mostly getting past the Lionel switch machines.
Bob your correct, need more coffee
Of course, you could be a true nut like me and operate your manual switches via some springs, wheels, and nylon fishline. Works well for me. No fuss, no muss, no problems with wiring and less expense with the same end result… control of switches from the front of the layout.
That’s 027 hi-railing done my way.
How are “real” switches operated? By an electric motor controlled by a button operated remotely from the switch…or manually like brianel does it? Which is more prototypical? Hmmmmmmm…
Hi Jim, long time no see. It must be me not hanging around here as much, though summer and flying may have something to do with it too.[;)]
The answer to the question of throwing switches is actually BOTH. On heavily used mainlines dispatchers control switches remotely. Only industrial switches away from the main are thrown by hand. Hump yards are all automatic, and some flat yards have been converted to powered throws with radio control, very much like TMCC.
I have a bunch of photos to illustrate the various styles of throw, but I don’t have them uploaded for posting. By the way, the BNSF can control switches in St Paul and all over their network from Fort Worth. The other major railroads are similarly equipped.
I guess how you throw your switches on your railroad depends on a lot of things. I use Caboose Industries ground throws on my industrial switches, and motors on any switches connected to the main. Most prorotypical, but that’s my style. Remote switches that need local control for switching will be able to use them by permission of dispatch.
On my portable layout I use O gauge for the reasons I mentioned earlier. I need the features and flexibility for the automation I do. While some of those things can be accomplished with modifications to 027 switches, I just find it easier to use the 022 and 072’s the way they come out of the box. One thing you will never get with 027’s is interchangable motors, though that isn’t usually much of a selling point.
thanks guys for the input. this will give me something to chew over as I mull my next level layout that I plan to start either this weekend or next
Bob N.,
I’ve been giving your idea some consideration over the last several days and have a question.
to power it independently in the way you describe, wouldn’t it void the anti-derailing feature?
No, not at all. The ends of the coils that were connected to the control rails in the switch remain connected to them. Only the other ends, which were connected to the center rail, get reconnected to an always-on accessory voltage. But the other side of that accessory voltage is “grounded” to the outside rails of the layout. So, when the wheels make a connection from a control rail to the grounded outside rail, the circuit is completed just as before and the switch throws.
Using a DC voltage instead of AC makes no difference, except that the buzzing goes away. It also allows you to use a capacitor to supply the switch-throwing energy. The advantage of this is that the 5000-microfarad capacitor stores only about enough energy to throw the switch. After that, not enough current can get through the 100-ohm recharging resistor to harm the coils, even if a train sits on the switch all day.
Another advantage of using DC is that you can make nifty diode arrangements to throw combinations of switches. For example, my 8-track yard has only 4 controllers, to throw the 4 final switches. The other three upstream are aligned automatically through diodes when I throw one of the 4.
Too bad Bob that I sent my article to the wrong address, huh? Wonder if it will ever make it to print?
- walt
thanks, Bob. I’ll try it next week and draw out a sketch and post results.