can i still electrify switches that were made by hand?
are you speaking of turnouts or electrical switches?..if you are speaking of turnouts then yes you can as long as you did’nt use metal ties to hold the rails together…you’re going to have to cut gaps in the rail because most hand layed turnouts are "select control " turnouts which means your going to have to “power the frog” with gaps between each rail leading to the frog and install a switch that feeds power from the point rail to frog and the route rail you choose to take…Andy S. has a Kalmbach publication called "Model Railroading Wiring made Easy " that explains how to do this…there is another good publication which is out of print but can be found in used book stores or from out of print publication dealers called "Wiring your Model Railroad " by Linn Wescott that also shows how to do this…if you use a Tortoise machine there are contacts on it that will allow for wiring a select control turnout…chuck
this is tracks that have been sitting for awhile and not used for 20 years
If you have ‘manual’ turnouts, you should be able to connect them up to a switch machine. Which machine would be best / easiest to use would depend on who the maker is (of the switches you have). But several manufacturers make switch machines (like Tortoise) specifically designed to be used to power manual turnouts.
wjstix, the track is glued down to the 4X8 foot piece of plywood.
how can i get track up that is glued?
if the ties have been hand layed as you first stated then you’re gonna have quite a mess trying to get the ties up in one piece while keeping the track in tact…in fact, you probably won’t without messing up the entire turnout…everytime i’ve pulled up track I ussually mangle it and have to replace it…you might want to use a putty knife and very gently try to pry it up little by little but my bet is that the turnout is gonna be toast once you’re done…the bright side is that here’s your chance at learning how to handlay track …chuck
cool thank you
RR ‘Switches’ (and models) CAN be “electified” as long as the rails are metal and
Track that is glued down to a plywood 4X8 CAN be pried up - carefully.
HOW USEFUL it will be afterwards, is the question.
Rails bend and ties break. Try using a wide putty knife.
thank you