New to the Hobby, I decided to start small. I found a shelf switching plan I liked called the Highland terminal. The Plan calls for Peco track but, I thought I’d stick with Atlas Flex in code 83. I had a little more room than The six feet required in the plan so I used no 6 turnouts instead of the short and medium turnouts called for in the plan. As a result the area needed for the ground throws and the rail throw rods themselves are now too close for placement of the ground throws. I’m still in the very early stages of this construction (nothing is glued or tacked in position and no roadbed has been cut. I’m Enclosing a few pictures to show the problem. What do you guys who have been doing trackwork for years suggest to fix my pickle. ( All Right I’ll Be back as soon as I find out how to attach pictures in this forum)
Bill [:0]
add. Well it lookslike MR has made it impossible to add images to this text, so I hope the explanation is sufficient to garner a few answers.
Bill[xx(][xx(][xx(]
The pictures need to be posted somewhere else and then pointed to from here.
Use Imageshack or Photobucket for hosting images. Just upload your files, and it will give you text to paste into your forum post.
Imageshack:
http://www.imageshack.us/
Photobucket (requires registration, but better than Imageshack)
http://www.photobucket.com
AS TZ stated, any pictures, diagrams, etc need to be posted to an outside web page, then a pointer (link) is inserted where ever you desire in the body of the text. Look at the left column in next to the post bolck. Look at the “Show Forum Code” at the bottom tells you the HTLM format to include any graphics. “[img] web site [img]” is the format.
Good luck
you’re just a bit off dickencr, the coding to put images up is BB code, not HTML. [;)]
HTML looks like ![]()
<//img> or <url=“”><//url> as opposed to the [img][//img] or [url][//url] of BB code.
(ignore the // in the code, it’s to make it show up in the forum)
If you use Photobucket they will give you a ready made link to each pic you want to use. I dont know if Imageshack does.
Now as for the switch problem. This is easy you can use some “piano wire” and a straw to put a control rod under the interfering track and operate the switch remotely that way. I dont have any pictures of this on hand to show you with but others here may. This technique was also shown in the Dream Plan Build video series I think the second volume. Hope this helps in both your problems
But back to the original question about the turnouts…
I assume you’re using Atlas turnouts along with your Atlas flex track. The Atlas turnouts do indeed have very long throw rods out to the side, to accomodate the side-mount switch machines they make. It’s perfectly legitimate to clip off the throw rods near the end of the ties and connect your ground throws there. (Another assumption I’m making here is that you are using something like Caboose manual ground throws.) If you are sticking with the Atlas machines (either manual or twin-coil) then please listen to my tale of woe…
I started last spring building my first layout in 40 years, with a bunch of boxes of trains that had been in boxes since the Johnson Administration. (No, no, Lyndon, not Andrew. I’m old, but not that old!) Anyway, I took the universal advice from our forum members, and bought all new nickel-silver track instead of trying to salvage and re-use the old brass. What I did salvage was the old Atlas remote-controlled switch machines, which actually still worked after all that time, and also could still be mounted to new Atlas Snap-Switches. I figured I was many dollars ahead, since I didn’t need to buy any more switch machines.
They work fine. They hold the points against the rails fine. To me, though, they look wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I’ve already switched to Peco for all my turnout purchases from now on, and I am giving serious thought to pulling out some of my installed Atlas turnouts and replacing those as well. I’m using code 100, by the way, but I’ve found that the Peco turnouts mate very well with the Atlas flex track.
Peco turnouts have a spring-loaded throw, so even without a switch motor or ground throw, they hold very nicely. The Peco twin-coil switch machines are mounted directly to the underside of the turnout, so there is no alignment problem.
Oh, and I know what HTML stands for, but how about BB? Is it Bulletin Board?
Ah! Mister Basley seems to be in tune to my problem. I am indeed using Atlas turnouts along with Caboose manual ground throws. Further investigation into this roundabout way to post photos may well lead to my getting images for all to see. Very Rube Goldberg, I must say.
Bill [8][8][8]
![]()
http://i36/photobuc
Well! This doesn’t work. What now?
Once more into the Breach!
![]()
http://i36.photobuc
Stillno Luck. What am I doing wrong?
![]()
http://photobucket.com/albums/e46/Bill2759/
That works! Don’t like the format but now you can see what I’m talking about. I really would like the image to appear in the post, not a link!
Bill[B)][B)][B)]
I would be inclined to “trench” your baseboard/roadbed, and using spring wire similar to Fred Lee’s diagram, mount all your Caboose Industries throws along the front edge. Putting a right angle in the spring wire, you can drill a hole in the turnout throw bar for the spring wire to actuate the turnout with. This hole in the throwbar can even be between the rails if need be to allow to clip off more of the interfering throw bar.
Putting the hand throws up front would help to avoid knocking rolling stock when you reach in.
A lot of new folks don’t realize that cutting sections off the turnout, as long as you don’t mess with the area from the points to the frog, is actually a good thing to do if it helps your turnouts fit your situation better. There is nothing sacred about a turnout that requires it be kept as manufactured - unless you want to resell it.
Hope this helps
Fred W
