I took your advice and ordered some bull frogs to experiment with. Now then, if I pull on the control “wire”, does this always mean switching to the diverging route or is there no such rule of thumb?
You can use whatever convention you want to use.
Some prefer the knob on the fascia to indicate turnout position. This works well on a shelf layout where track is pretty much parallel to the fascia. “In” means the turnout is thrown for the path further away from you, out is the closer path.
Others use a “normal” and “reverse” convention. Knob in means normal position (normally the through path or main line); out means reverse. A visual glance with all knobs in means everything is set for the main or through route.
Your suggested convention is yet another methodology. Note that in each of the 3 cases, there are likely to be occasional situations where the control wire will have to come into the Bullfrog from the back side instead of the front side to keep the convention correct.
So the 4th method is do whatever controlling from the front side of the Bullfrog gives you. I call this the “lazy” convention because the knob position has no special meaning. But one can always look at a turnout that is not hidden to see which way it is set.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
Fred,
Very nice synopsis.
A little more about the, “Normal and reverse convention.” This has its origin in the old armstrong interlocking machine, where levers were either in the normal' position (usually away from the operator) or in the reverse’ position. For simplicity of design, the most-used route through a specific set of points would be set up as `normal.’ The operator could see the tall, obtrusive levers much more easily than he could see the points of a turnout that could be several hundred meters away.
I won’t go into the mechanics of which signal could be cleared for which combination of point positions, even though I model it. Of course my interlockings are electrical, not mechanical.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I went the extra mile when using mechanical throws on any main line turnouts and added LED’s to the facia by the knob. Green for normal or main line route, and red or yellow for the alternate route.
Before I did that, my operators were having problems trying to figure it out and get the routes right.
The first thing you learn as a brakeman/yardman is to check the points…don’t rely on the target as kids/vandals can switch them around!
Yea, but that doesn’t always work on the second level of a model railroad where the track is at eye-level, the turnout is 18 inches away, and you are looking at it from the side.
It has been the norm for years that a switch to always be set for the main unless someone is using it to access a siding. And when they leave the area they reset the switch to the main and lock it. Why would anyone leave a switch set to the diverging route when they leave an area?
With todays speeds it would take a train about a mile or more to stop when high balling out on the main.