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Switch machines for Atlas Z #6

 

Other than Tortoise switch? machine, what will work with the Atlas #6 turnouts and not be so balky. This is? a new 30 x 48 inch layout. Still want to be able to take to shows and minimize potential damage. Thanks
 

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Are you running DC or DCC?

On DCC, I use Tam valley Depot micro singlets and his Micro Servo Turnout Machine.?
For DC you could use the Octopus. Not bulky at all, and overall fairly inexpensive.
You can easily adjust total throw and throw speed. Just take your time setting the wire length (it'll be shortest when the switch it thrown one way or the other; it will pop up during transition.
I know Robert Ray installed Tortoise machines horizontally just recently on some t-track-z modules.

John Duino
jduino@...



---- On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 10:50:06 -0400 jacklr1 via groups.io <el1921@...> wrote ---

Other than Tortoise switch? machine, what will work with the Atlas #6 turnouts and not be so balky. This is? a new 30 x 48 inch layout. Still want to be able to take to shows and minimize potential damage. Thanks




 

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Thanks John, I see lots of these in the future for the traction layouts and reasonably priced at $25 a set.

Dave Mummery

??Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6;34

On Mar 24, 2024 12:26 PM, John Duino <jduino@...> wrote:
Are you running DC or DCC?

On DCC, I use Tam valley Depot micro singlets and his Micro Servo Turnout Machine.?
For DC you could use the Octopus. Not bulky at all, and overall fairly inexpensive.
You can easily adjust total throw and throw speed. Just take your time setting the wire length (it'll be shortest when the switch it thrown one way or the other; it will pop up during transition.
I know Robert Ray installed Tortoise machines horizontally just recently on some t-track-z modules.

John Duino
jduino@...



---- On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 10:50:06 -0400 jacklr1 via groups.io <el1921@...> wrote ---

Other than Tortoise switch? machine, what will work with the Atlas #6 turnouts and not be so balky. This is? a new 30 x 48 inch layout. Still want to be able to take to shows and minimize potential damage. Thanks





 

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I should have added, all of my turnouts up to now are Peter Wrights. He had the 'throw bar' between the rails, so it was CRITICAL to get the little wire sticking up to not be too high. The Atlas turnouts have the throw outside the rails, so the height can be a little looser and camouflaged so as to hide the wire and the bar.

I, too, foresee a bunch in my future as I have 2 modules planned with a metric shitton of turnouts

John Duino
jduino@...



---- On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 14:18:01 -0400 David Mummery <d_mummery@...> wrote ---

Thanks John, I see lots of these in the future for the traction layouts and reasonably priced at $25 a set.

Dave Mummery

??Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6;34

On Mar 24, 2024 12:26 PM, John Duino <jduino@...> wrote:
Are you running DC or DCC?

On DCC, I use Tam valley Depot micro singlets and his Micro Servo Turnout Machine.?
For DC you could use the Octopus. Not bulky at all, and overall fairly inexpensive.
You can easily adjust total throw and throw speed. Just take your time setting the wire length (it'll be shortest when the switch it thrown one way or the other; it will pop up during transition.
I know Robert Ray installed Tortoise machines horizontally just recently on some t-track-z modules.

John Duino



---- On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 10:50:06 -0400 jacklr1 via groups.io <el1921=[email protected]> wrote ---

Other than Tortoise switch? machine, what will work with the Atlas #6 turnouts and not be so balky. This is? a new 30 x 48 inch layout. Still want to be able to take to shows and minimize potential damage. Thanks
 

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Jack,

IMHO the best switch machines on the market – any scale - are those made by MTB in the Czech Republic, available in the USA through Model Railroad Control Systems ( ) These are fully enclosed low-profile motorized geared machines with auxiliary contacts and are a ?” (MP1) to ?” (MP10) deep. I have 34 of these switch machines on my Nn3 layout, including on two Atlas Z turnouts (in photo – excuse the upended cheap trees in the creek). They are particularly useful for portable and modular layouts with limited benchwork depth. (My layout benchwork is 1-1/2” thick.) The throw is adjustable. Although they come with a rod for use with turnouts, I use 1/16” brass tube in the machine with an insert of .010” piano wire dropped down through the turnout throwbar from the top and with the top of the piano wire bent over and hammered down similar to track spikes. (Most of my turnouts are Fast Tracks and the wire is through a hole in the middle of the throwbar.) This wire “floats” in the brass tube and I can adjust the tension on the wire by slacking off the screws on the end of the switch machine and sliding the brass tube up and down. I covered the installation of these machines in my series on building my narrow-gauge Pacific Coast Railway layout in N Scale Magazine. I am preparing to install another of these to operate a Peter Wright Nn3 turnout in a module I use as a portable layout for local train shows. ?

Tom K.

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Tom K.
 

I have to agree with Tom K, the switch machines he mentioned are the best for Atlas Z turnouts. They have a very low profile and are well built.?
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I have experimented with the Atlas under the table machine by using finer wire than what is included, but it's not easy walking that fine line between positive point movement and not beating up the turnout (not a fan of twin coil machines).
?
Steve W
 

I'm also using the MP1 switch machine with Atlas turnouts.? They can be controlled with any double throw switch, or you can wire them to a decoder.? Internally they also can route track power to the frog.?
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I'm using these RGB switches I got off Amazon to control them: ?
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As you can connect the color LED leads to the routed power wires, you can set it up to be green for through and red for divergent for an easy visual indicator.
?
Matt

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