Model Railway Forum

Do you know Brian you have made me think. My new layout is only 9ft 6in....X 6ft 6 " wide and the widest BB is 28" so apart from maybe the odd couple of points which may be to the back or corner somewhere I may as well go digital like you and change the points with my finger. That will save me enough money to buy a nice new loco or rake of coaches. Thanks for that Brian.

Not only that John, no faffing about under the layout. I made a point changing tool out of a piece of dowel to reach the furthest point if I can’t be bothered to reach over. It has a loop of wire on the end that fits over the end of the tie bar.

Well Brian,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I have now decided thanks to you that the new railway will not need any point motors and all the faff that goes with it, like wiring switches as the whole layout is easy to reach across and change the points manually. My new railway is small enough and accessible enough not to need it. Think of all the work that has saved as well quite apart from the money it has saved.
Not only that I am 71 and not to well these days and it will do me lot more good getting up and moving around to change the points rather than sitting down pressing a button.

I think manual point changing is a great idea though I would prefer the Wire In Tube method to the "hand of God".

However there are reasons for motorising points other than laziness or difficulty of access. When I began back in the hobby in 2014 I decided to go the DCC route so I could combine model railways with my other hobby interest of computers and computer programming. My original idea was to build a fully automated layout and early experiments using Hornby Railmaster proved it really wasn't that difficult. I built a "test" track with an oval and passing loop (out of sight). Just using reed switches and relays I got it to send a train clockwise around to the loop, stop, change the points, and after a suitable delay send a train on the other side of the loop anti-clockwise and back to the loop again where it stopped and after another suitable delay, the program repeated itself. For fun I made up a train of empty coal wagons and a train of full coal wagons and employed 2 identical locomotives so it appeared to be the same train going back and forth between a colliery and a power station. After some tweaking of timing with the Railmaster program it worked like a dream. I even added a couple of sound tracks (of a passing train) using a pair of speakers at each end of the layout to make it follow the train from left to right or back as required. It was great fun to sit back and watch. The test track is no longer and my current layout (if I ever get it finished) will be controlled manually though I have managed to employ my basic programming skills in my colliery and gas plant sections.

So automation is a another reason why some of us may wish to not use our "digits" for changing points or signals.

As it requires the hand of god to put the rolling stock on the track it is perfectly suited to point changing.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:13 pm As it requires the hand of god to put the rolling stock on the track it is perfectly suited to point changing.

Ah but once rolling stock is on the track - not need to touch them especially if one uses good couplings that do not require manual work ! But that is an other subject...

I do find it is useful to touch them to take them off the track.

The only time I touch them is to clean the wheels ( once a year) or add a new purchase ( which is rare nowdays).

Thank you for your advice, gentlemen, The Gaugemaster CDU is very good. No ifs and buts even from old SM3s.

Cheers, Artur