Caboose Industries N scale graound throw?

[nkalanaga]

I "remember" a recent announcement about Caboose Industries having a new, smaller ground throw for N scale.  Was that real, or am I "remembering" a dream?

I searched for Caboose Industries and couldn't find anything in the last 30 days.

[MichaelWinicki]

I "remember" a recent announcement about Caboose Industries having a new, smaller ground throw for N scale.  Was that real, or am I "remembering" a dream?

I searched for Caboose Industries and couldn't find anything in the last 30 days.

If true that would be great!

I'd take 125 to start.

[nkalanaga]

I would also like some.  They wouldn't have to be true N scale, as long as they weren't much bigger than slide switches.

I assume I was "remembering" a dream, if no one else saw the report.

I'm using slide switches, but they seem to get dirty quickly, so a more reliable substitute would be nice.  Has anyone tried drilling a hole in the handle of a toggle switch, putting a wire through that, and making a ground throw?  I would, but hand-drilling a hole in a round steel handle doesn't seem too practical.  The result wouldn't look very American, but some European railroads use a ground throw with the handle working parallel to the throw rod, and the old Harp switchstands also worked that way.

[MichaelWinicki]

I would also like some.  They wouldn't have to be true N scale, as long as they weren't much bigger than slide switches.

I assume I was "remembering" a dream, if no one else saw the report.

I'm using slide switches, but they seem to get dirty quickly, so a more reliable substitute would be nice.  Has anyone tried drilling a hole in the handle of a toggle switch, putting a wire through that, and making a ground throw?  I would, but hand-drilling a hole in a round steel handle doesn't seem too practical.  The result wouldn't look very American, but some European railroads use a ground throw with the handle working parallel to the throw rod, and the old Harp switchstands also worked that way.

Yep, the CI throws are virtually indestructible.  Just wish they were smaller.

[MK]

I'm using slide switches, but they seem to get dirty quickly, so a more reliable substitute would be nice.  Has anyone tried drilling a hole in the handle of a toggle switch, putting a wire through that, and making a ground throw?  I would, but hand-drilling a hole in a round steel handle doesn't seem too practical.

They make toggle switches with flat "bat" handles.

[wmcbride]

They make toggle switches with flat "bat" handles.

Exactly what I was just going to write...     

[coosvalley]

I love using these to throw turnouts, but don't want them in the scene since they are so huge. On my last layout, which had a foam surface, I installed them on a tiny shelf built into the fascia, and they moved a wire, which was in a plastic tube, which was placed into small ditches cut into the foam. I don't know if that's a good description, but it was super easy and worked great. You can use HO throws for long runs( to make up for "play" in the tube), N scale for shorter runs (2 feet or less or thereabouts). And you can use their power routing versions(even bigger) and thus power frogs too. All without the ground throw in the scene. If you like using these things, and use foam layout surface, give it a try..

And if you're more adventurous than me, you can also get this setup to actuate a N.J. International switch stand, and it would turn when the switch is thrown.They are moveable out of the package and have a tiny connecter arm to be connected to whatever actuation you choose..

[MK]

Exactly what I was just going to write...     

As Agent 86 would say "Missed it by that much!" 

[nickelplate759]

I love using these to throw turnouts, but don't want them in the scene since they are so huge. On my last layout, which had a foam surface, I installed them on a tiny shelf built into the fascia, and they moved a wire, which was in a plastic tube, which was placed into small ditches cut into the foam. I don't know if that's a good description, but it was super easy and worked great. You can use HO throws for long runs( to make up for "play" in the tube), N scale for shorter runs (2 feet or less or thereabouts). And you can use their power routing versions(even bigger) and thus power frogs too. All without the ground throw in the scene. If you like using these things, and use foam layout surface, give it a try..

I like this idea - I was considering something similar, and am pleased that someone tried it first and liked it.
How wide was your "tiny shelf"?  I'm thinking of using something like aluminum angle for the ground-throw shelf.   Do you have any photos of what you did?

[coosvalley]

No picture of the shelf, and you can't see much, but this is the only pic that shows any of it(I filled in the ditches with lightweight spackle). You can see the curving ditch under the red building. My shelf was about an inch down from the layout surface, and about an inch wide, but 2 would have been better..I eventually filled in the holes with chunks of ground foam..

[rodsup9000]

I like this idea - I was considering something similar, and am pleased that someone tried it first and liked it.
How wide was your "tiny shelf"?  I'm thinking of using something like aluminum angle for the ground-throw shelf.   Do you have any photos of what you did?

  Mine's not on a shelf, but on the edge of the layout. You could easily do the same on a 3/4" aluminum angle.
 I used the smallest brass tube K&S has, and used .020 spring (music) wire to control the turnout.
 When cutting the grove for the brass tube, make sure that it is pretty straight shot at the turnout. I bent a staple
around the tube at each end to hold it in place. Then I used caulk to hold it permanently and to to cover it up so it
 was all level again.
 


 

[Santa Fe Guy]

This is the setup I used to power frogs and throw turnouts on my now gone On30 layout. Same idea works for N Scale. Rod extends to fascia to control turnout.
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Just another idea.
Rod.

[nkalanaga]

MK:  Yes, but the round handles tend to look smaller, so wouldn't be quite as conspicuous.  Also, I wanted to drill the hole across the switch, parallel to the track. so the throw wire could simply stick through it.  One could drill a hole parallel to the throwbar, but then there'd have to be something to keep the wire from sliding back and forth.

Coosvalley:  On my last layout, before we moved, I used CI ground throws for everything.  Oversized, sure, but they worked reliably, and didn't cost much.  Most were mounted at the turnout, the normal way, but I did have some that had to be mounted away from the track for clearance reasons.  As you said, they work very nicely with a rod-in-tube setup.