Point (Turnout) Control

JimmyB

JimmyB

Now retired - trains and fishing
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As part of my latest extension I have four points (turnouts) to provide moving between parallel tracks (photo below). Previously my points have be electronically controlled either by R/C (Revo), or remote switches. However, due to the location (a distance from my power supply) and the fact I don't envisage these being used much, and am considering using manual control, and possibly a small lever frame close by, connected by rodding. I have seen the Bowden cable method, and this is a second choice, by as I have said my first choice is cracks and rodding. So advice please and parts and suppliers please.

Cross-over.jpg
 
Bamboo stick of appropriate length would work well to flip points across, also save you bending down.
 
I'd just replace the electric point motors with LGB manual levers.

I'm not aware of any rodding or levers for G scale....
 
Just thinking Jimmy, Dunny has an air operated system for points?

Might be an alternative....
 
I believe Tenmille does cranks and prodding?
Not sure how well it will do in the garden?

I have seen 00 rail used for this, with homemade brass cranks.

Another thought, is galvanised garden wire.. You can use small screw eyes to guide it.

Whatever method you come up with, I think the frame itself may be the biggest hurdle?

PhilP
 
Gizzy said:
Just thinking Jimmy, Dunny has an air operated system for points?

Might be an alternative....
Click to expand...
Did think about suggesting that but would be quite expensive for just 4 points including a compressor unless he has one. Would need 4 air motors and just 2 levers as each lever can control a crossover of 2 points. 3 T pieces and a selection of air line. I thought that Simons Trains at Holsworthy used to stock it, imported from USA.
PhilP said:
I believe Tenmille does cranks and prodding?
Not sure how well it will do in the garden?

I have seen 00 rail used for this, with homemade brass cranks.

Another thought, is galvanised garden wire.. You can use small screw eyes to guide it.

Whatever method you come up with, I think the frame itself may be the biggest hurdle?

PhilP
Click to expand...
Tenmille levers not perfect for LGB points, insufficient throw. This could be altered with suitably home made bell cranks.
 
I believe there's a product in the 16mm scale. I'll look later
Try Tenmill or Cliff Barker. They might have something you can use
 
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In an outdoor G scale setting, any method relying on anything but a very short length of point rodding is going to be a maintenance nightmare. On the prototype, there was a small army of workers who looked after mechanical point and signal infrastructure on regular basis.... even for the parts which were rarely used.

This might be of interest.....

www.gscalecentral.net

A DIY point lever

Having just installed some new sidings on the layout - and being particularly dissatisfied with LGB point levers, I decided to have a go at manufacturing my own. A couple of LGB sleepers, a piece of brass sheet, a piece of brass rod, a short length of Peco rail and €0.04, a few nuts and bolts, a...
www.gscalecentral.net www.gscalecentral.net
 
Software Tools said:
In an outdoor G scale setting, any method relying on anything but a very short length of point rodding is going to be a maintenance nightmare. On the prototype, there was a small army of workers who looked after mechanical point and signal infrastructure on regular basis.... even for the parts which were rarely used.

This might be of interest.....

www.gscalecentral.net

A DIY point lever

Having just installed some new sidings on the layout - and being particularly dissatisfied with LGB point levers, I decided to have a go at manufacturing my own. A couple of LGB sleepers, a piece of brass sheet, a piece of brass rod, a short length of Peco rail and €0.04, a few nuts and bolts, a...
www.gscalecentral.net www.gscalecentral.net
Click to expand...
I did read that article on ge_rik ge_rik blog this morning and found it interesting, certainly "food for thought".
 
Before the the war (and maybe for a few years after it?) Hornby O Gauge had a control system based on wires and rodding. Here's a link to a series of Meccano Magazine articles on it which might be of interest. Unfortunately, the pages are not listed in chronological order and the later pages for the first two articles (and, indeed, the first article) come at the end.

 
How about a 12 or 24v battery with either solar power to keep it charged, or just replaced periodically.

You can then use the battery to either run Lgb point motors or step down to 5v and use servos as point motors.

Network rail are slowly replacing certain ground frames with power operated points, they are still classed as ground frames, but don’t have all the point rodding and cranks.

But as previously said, the long stick is the cheapest and easiest method

Dan
 
playmofire said:
Before the the war (and maybe for a few years after it?) Hornby O Gauge had a control system based on wires and rodding. Here's a link to a series of Meccano Magazine articles on it which might be of interest. Unfortunately, the pages are not listed in chronological order and the later pages for the first two articles (and, indeed, the first article) come at the end.

Click to expand...
Now that is close to what I am looking for.
 
playmofire said:
Before the the war (and maybe for a few years after it?) Hornby O Gauge had a control system based on wires and rodding. Here's a link to a series of Meccano Magazine articles on it which might be of interest. Unfortunately, the pages are not listed in chronological order and the later pages for the first two articles (and, indeed, the first article) come at the end.

Click to expand...
Really superb system, likely 10mm will supply the bell cranks but levers tricky. Levers have been supplied in recent years as kits but not seen for a while.

Epsom and Ewell club did a design for a superb set of levers in the 60’s in Model Railway Constructor, they had catch levers so you had to pull them properly. I built a 10 lever set but wow what a lot of work! These days many of the tricky parts would be etched. Here are some pics of my scratch built efforts, obviously for outside use the wood needs to be replaced by metal.

My Epsom and Ewell Frame
IMG_8062.jpegIMG_8063.jpegIMG_8064.jpeg
Somewhat cruder but easier to make frame.
IMG_8065.jpegIMG_8066.jpeg
Both frames have been successfully used in smaller scales but would work outside with metal replacing wood equally well in our G scale.
 
I think a rough rule of thumb would be straight runs and as few changes of direction as possible in the rodding (or is that two rough rules of thumb?)
 
playmofire said:
I think a rough rule of thumb would be straight runs and as few changes of direction as possible in the rodding (or is that two rough rules of thumb?)
Click to expand...
Errrr....
'Straight runs' and 'changes of direction' are mutually exclusive, surely?
:nerd:

A bit like the schoolboy answer to defining parallel lines:
"Parallel lines never join. Unless you bend one, or both, of them".
;)

PhilP
 
PhilP said:
Errrr....
'Straight runs' and 'changes of direction' are mutually exclusive, surely?
:nerd:

A bit like the schoolboy answer to defining parallel lines:
"Parallel lines never join. Unless you bend one, or both, of them".
;)

PhilP
Click to expand...
Hm that is apparently not quite so, the galaxy not having no end bends all straight lines during light travel around it. Thus if your eyes were good enough you could see the back of your head. Though the time light would take to travel that far would mean you were dead millennia ago by the time the view of the back of your head returned. Thus Parallel lines will never be thus truly straight, but our perceptible view being in effect so tiny in the scheme of things does make those lines look parallel. I still find it hard to get my head round all this, but one has to accept rules of relativity etc. as created by better brains than mine.
 
PhilP said:
Errrr....
'Straight runs' and 'changes of direction' are mutually exclusive, surely?
:nerd:


Phil
Click to expand...
I will try and recast it in pedant proof English:

Straight runs between the control lever and the point/switch would be the ideal, but if this is impossible, then any changes of direction in the rodding between the control lever and the point/switch should be kept to the minimum.
 
How about something like these model aircraft control cables, I have used them on small scale stuff.

Snakes

Snakes - <p> Snake Control Rods</p>
www.probuild-uk.co.uk

Alternatively using push bike brake cables, stainless steal to reduce corrosion.

As suggested servo control with a solar battery.
ringbalin-light-railway.blogspot.com

Servo Controlled Points Part 1

Because I was having some issues with my Aristocraft and LGB manual points; The LGB points I had would not throw properly with a manual lev...
ringbalin-light-railway.blogspot.com ringbalin-light-railway.blogspot.com
 
dunnyrail said:
Hm that is apparently not quite so, the galaxy not having no end bends all straight lines during light travel around it. Thus if your eyes were good enough you could see the back of your head. Though the time light would take to travel that far would mean you were dead millennia ago by the time the view of the back of your head returned. Thus Parallel lines will never be thus truly straight, but our perceptible view being in effect so tiny in the scheme of things does make those lines look parallel. I still find it hard to get my head round all this, but one has to accept rules of relativity etc. as created by better brains than mine.
Click to expand...
I had a work colleague, who was studying Quantum Physics, correct me when I said 'the shortest distance between points is a straight line'.
He said that in quantum physics points do not exist so therefore straights lines don't either, he started explaining this but when I glazed over he just gave up.
That would explain most of my cuts.
 
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