For alot of you ,you probably use under the table mounted ones or ground throws When i first started building my layout I didn’t, and by taking a wild guess I figure there are probably a few who still don’t or haven’t. I read some where that there is no good way to hide them, I used a couple pieces of strip wood and some scrap balsa and came up with this.A little imaganation and a few detail parts out of the bulk bin cheap and although it does not completly hide the ugly thing it does take the eye off of it somewhat. I hope that there will be a few of you out there that will find this usefull.
putting a loading dock near every switch might look just as bad as the machines themselves. try gluing or screwing a throw bar extension of 40 thousandths styrene and moving the machine several inches away from the track where it could be hidden in a building or under a rock pile or another way to disguise it. i’ve even disguised one as a speed bump on a road.
Railguyho - that was a nice solution to the problem.
I have similar looking manual switch machines on my Atlas switches (in N scale). I’ve just bought some Caboose Industries ground throw switch stands and I’m going to try them out, (removing the Atlas switch mechanism) to see how they work.
Nice solution railguyho! Here is another hint. There is a product called Ny-Rod made for transfering movement from servos to the control surfaces of R/C aircraft. I have used this to mount switch machines some distance away from the switch itself to hide them. The nice thing about Ny-Rod is that you can bend it around corners and it is low friction so little power is lost when using it. Just another alternative. Ken
You can turn the standard Atlas switch machine into an under table model with a little styrene tubing and a piece of wire. [8D]Bend the tubing into a 90 degree elbow, insert a piece of wire (long enough to reach the throw bar on the turnout from under the table top) and epoxy in place. When dry epoxy the elbow to the lever on the switch machine. When dry, mount as you would an under table switch machine and trim the wire off for clearance. I have a half-dozen or more of these things on my layout. Just as reliable as the standard machine or the under table model. A whole lot cheaper too![:D]
For the manually operated switches I use Caboose Industries ground throws. They are not scale, but rugged and reliable. You can locate them at some distance from the switch with piano wire linkage or ‘Golden Rod’ push rods.[:)]
Thanks for all of the ideas most of what I had left on my layout have been converted to ground throws,Since wirless dcc came into the picture,the need to remotely control turnouts has fallen by the wayside.NZRmac JPM335 was right on the money they are atlas#4.Don Gibson i think I read somewhere about those unrealistic black frogs I have never had time to address that issue.And really never gave it much thought untill now.Hmmm. I never intended to cover every turnout machine in the same way ,there are tracksheds ,and i have built oil loading and fuel storage using old tank cars to cover them up.My intention was just to provide the newer guys a cheap 10 min fix to a old problem untill they advanced their skill and tried other more realistic things.This is one of the last sections standing as i continue to tear down my layout and just wanted to try and give back a little for all I have taken from this forum and its great membership.Thanks again and Happy New Year to all.
We use those Atlas switch machines at the club on our rather large point to point layout with single track with passing sidings.You see we found these are highly reliable and only takes minutes to switch out should one go bad as they some times do after a long period of heavy use.We have some that has lasted 12 years and still works!! Now that’s saying something seeing we operate 2 days a week for a average of 6 hours per meeting.Our operation can and some times does last longer then 6 hours!
We just leave the swich machines the way they are and not try to hide them…
I know what you are saying our club layout is the same way.so we run and overlook them,The layout set dormat for over 5 years once the track was cleaned and power applied not one of them needed replaced.They are reailable just to bad that a manf. has not put the effort into enclosing them into a more realistic appearence.I tried one time to make a cover out of resin,but with my limited amount of time i had to spend on my layout I gave up and went with the little balsa and strip wood idea. It was just a thought that I hoped would stir some interesting conversation,on all the different ways,that people have dealt with those ugly things.Since i am getting ready to start rebuilding a more prototypical layout and I don’t know if ground throws will be used in all situations.I thought i had replied to everyone in my org,but I did want to thank Egmurphy and eriediamond for their comments and suggestions.Terry.
