Switches for Turnouts

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I just bought a pair of Turnouts for my son. They were Bachman EZ Turnouts. The first thing I noticed is that the wire for both the remote switch and the power was so short that that was impossible to hook up both of them if the were 3 feet apart or to put the switches together to controt the track from a single location.

The second thing I noticed is that only one of the two switched actually worked. The track itself seemed to work, but the switches seemed very cheap.

I’m assume then that the switches then are actually kind of a joke and you have to buy better switches and wire them yourself if you plan on being able to use them.

I also noticed that if I used the turnouts together–like as a turnout --they both work in tandom.

So the question is–probably rhetorical–is do I need to buy switches?

And can I wire the tandom turnouts together?

2

You should buy some cheap SPDT mom. switches. that means single pole double throw momentary. and yes you can wire turnouts together. Depending on how they are positioned you may need to cross a wire or two but no big deal.

3

I have a ton of Cat 5 wiring around. Any reason why I can’t use it?

4

That EZ Track is all crap. I spent alot of money buying it along with a few turnouts and my trains derailed over every one of them. I threw it all in the trash and now I am laying Atlas on foam roadbed, Much much better, and cheaper too!

5

Sure, you can use the Cat 5 wire, but you only need 3 conductors to control a turnout, so you could use one pair of conductors as a common to all of the motors, and then select color pairs for individual turnouts and operate up to 3 motors from one cable.

As stated above, get some Single-Pole, Double-Throw, Center-Off, Momentary switches and use them to control the turnouts.

6

I will be using Atlas track on the main layout. I just have the EZ track and am throwing this together. When the main line is operational, all the EZ track goes directly to eBay.

7

That CAT5 would be awesome for stripping out indivual wires of the 8 colors that are provided. Why did I not think of that earlier?? Great idea!

I would not touch those cheap switches… the more I see the problems with the atlases the more I am steeling myself for the expense of the Shinohara or Peco’s

8

Chances are better than even you mis-wired.

  1. The more expensive switches / turnouts come with NO wire. Wire is cheap.
    Use 3 conductor for switches. Atlas 3 color comes to mind.

  2. Buy a book on how to wire.

  3. Some cheaper power paks don’t have enough amps to throw 2 switches at same time.

ADVICE = Dont mix brands. .They ALL will work… Mixing will coumpound your problems

9

I have found that Kato No. 6 switches work very good. I have had less success with Kato No. 4 switches. Kato switches are very easy to hook up. It is quick and easy to make a complete layout with Kato unitrack and Kato switches and it is also easy to change the layout any time you want to.

Larry

10
11

I went to my local electronics shop the other day looking for some SPDT mom. switches. They had 3. But i need about 40! Anybody know where I can buy them in bulk?

12

Try an electronics wholesaler like Mouser Electronics.

13

Spacemouse,

I have enjoyed following your saga with your layout. I just caught on recently. It sounds like you are a little new to this. So am I.

But from one newbee to another, I am using atlas switches with atlas undertable switch machines. They work well for the $. The tortoise machines that you asked about earlier would be nice in the long run.

For the wire, I bought bulk 18gauge solid bell wire from local hardware store. You can get this in 2 or three wire. The 3 wire is perfect for the switches. One color for each pole. Only about $.18/ft. I like the solid wire (as opposed to stranded) because it makes a nice hook around the screw and holds better.

Good luck.
Jeff