[quote user=“Euclid”]
Randy Stahl
Euclid
I remember seeing main line switches that had a 180 degree lever connected to a about a 2.5" diameter rod that ran across the track under the rails right at the points. Welded to the rod were two big blocks of steel near the location of the nearest stock rail.
When the switch was lined for the main line, you threw the lever over 180 degrees and it rotated the rod, bringing the two blocks of steel up so they contacted the side edge of the rail base of the stock rail and the base of the point against the stock rail. So it created a very strong impediment to the sparation of the point from the rail.
I always wondered if you could run through and split a switch with that locking feature. I assume it was just intented as a backup feature to make sure that wheels could not pick the switch on a facing move.
I’ve used these point locks too. Some have the bar like you describe and some have extra latches with a foot pedal. Both are locked with a switch lock.
Operating these switches can cause injury if you do not know they are there. People have tried throwing the switch with point locks and hurt themselves.
They are to prevent the points from opening under a train on a main track.
Randy,
Would that type of point lock derail a train if it ran through the switch in the trailing point direction?