switch machines

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Does anyone know anything about tenshodo switch machines or nj international

thanks in advance

Larry

2

I am going to guess that these are dual coil units, right? There should be two coils that make up a two position solenoid with some mechanical linkage of some sort. The coils should have wires attached to them, may have a common connection between the two.

What do you need to know about them?

3

Hi I need to know if they are any good,You are correct they are twin coil machines.Larry

4

These basic machine have been made/imported by several firms(Tenshodo/NJ Int/Kemtron…). I had some of the Kemtron ones on my layout. They have all been replaced with Tortoise motors. They work, but there are issues:

  • Lots of coil current to operate them
  • They can literally ‘bang’ themselves apart over time.
  • You really need to use a Capacitive Discharge power supply so you do not burn out the coils or the momentary toggle contacts that control them.

I am not sure what current price is for them, but I like the slow motion of the Tortoise and the easy setup. If you have a collection of old ones, they are usable. I was able to sell off my old ones at a train show for $5 each…

Jim

5

A fellow modeler here had a large stock of the old Kemtron machines that he bought 30 or 40 years ago, which are exactly the same machine as the NJ International or Tenshodo. He installed close to 20 of them on his home HO scale layout, connected to CVP stationary decoders.

He is now going around and replacing every one with a Tortoise switch motor because the old ‘slam/bang’ motors were destroying the Peco turnouts and the CVP AD-4 decoders, even with a built-in CD circuit and 15 Amp power supply, couldn’t handle the current load.

6

thanks I will get rid of them somehow.

Larry