I was looking at the cool ctc type switches from Rix. The turnout switches have a N and a R on them, what do those letters stand for?? Im sure I’ll feel stupid when I hear the answer.
Simple!!! North and Right!!! 
Mark
[b]Normal[/b] and [b]Reverse[/b].
In CTC operation normal is the normal alignment of a particular switch–it may be straight through or it may be the diverging rout. Reverse is the opposite . . . . . . . . . . a reversed switch is a switch aligned for what the railroad determines is the non-normal route–again this may be straight through or it may be diverging.
RIX must mark those switches the way they do because if you are setting these things up simulating CTC operation all switches are either normal or reversed. They should be spring-loaded in other words if a train were aproaching a switch and the normal route was the straight route and the switch was returning an indication or being in the normal position but you wanted that train to take the siding then you would throw the (electrical) switch to the reverse position and when you released it it should spring back to the center (disengaged) position. The switch would remain reversed until you moved the CTC switch over to the normal.
If you are not thoroughly confused by this time you simply do not understand the situation.
Thanks for the explaination, I was wondering what the springs were for,
Actually normal and reverse apply to any main track switch, in any territory, hand, power or remote operation, not just CTC.