Rookie Turnout Query

rockislandmike

Active Member
Won't call myself a newbie anymore, but still a rookie. To date I've only used Atlas snap-switches on my shelf layout et al. I'm working on a budget for my 7' x 10' garage layout, and these turnouts have me pondering.

If I buy Atlas Mark 3 turnouts, for example (HO scale, #4 or #6), do I also have to buy either a ground throw or switch machine to go along with it??? In other words, just buying the actual turnout is useless without one of those devices???
 
Basically correct. You can make a spring loaded device to hold the points against either rail and change the turnout with your finger, but I found that to not work well if you throw the turnout very often. I have replaced a number of my Atlas switch machines with either tortoise under the table machine or ground throws. For a manual operation, I prefer ground throws.

You can see an article on ground throw installation on the NMRA Beginner Pages at http://www.nmra.org/beginner/ Just go to the consist page and look for the ground throw link.

Roger Hensley
 
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