# Narrow clearance ground throws



## Ko Improbable (Mar 15, 2017)

While I am tempted to just go without, are there any good ground throws, like the caboose industries ones, that are sufficiently short in side clearance to go between tracks on code 55? I'm picturing something that interfaces parallel to the track instead of perpendicular.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Linkages?*



Ko Improbable said:


> While I am tempted to just go without, are there any good ground throws, like the caboose industries ones, that are sufficiently short in side clearance to go between tracks on code 55? I'm picturing something that interfaces parallel to the track instead of perpendicular.


Ko Improbable;

I don't know if there is a commercial ground throw smaller than Caboose Industries. Possibly you could use a rod-inside-a-tube linkage under the track to connect an outside-the-outer-track ground throw to the interior turnout. As for mounting parallel to the track, you would need to make a small bell crank from a triangular piece of metal, to change the direction of motion 90 degrees. Simple electrical slide switches have also been used to operate turnouts, and some are quite small.
What brand of turnouts are you using? Peco comes with a built-in spring that renders a ground throw superfluous. It is also possible to add such a spring to other brands. I would be very leery of doing this between the rails of an Atlas code 55 turnout, since their throwbar is pretty weak, and easily damaged. You might be able to rig a simple bi-stable spring of thin music wire to the outside end of an Atlas code 55 turnout's throwbar. Piece of wire, two screws, super simple. 

good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## Ko Improbable (Mar 15, 2017)

traction fan said:


> Ko Improbable;
> 
> I don't know if there is a commercial ground throw smaller than Caboose Industries. Possibly you could use a rod-inside-a-tube linkage under the track to connect an outside-the-outer-track ground throw to the interior turnout. As for mounting parallel to the track, you would need to make a small bell crank from a triangular piece of metal, to change the direction of motion 90 degrees. Simple electrical slide switches have also been used to operate turnouts, and some are quite small.
> What brand of turnouts are you using? Peco comes with a built-in spring that renders a ground throw superfluous. It is also possible to add such a spring to other brands. I would be very leery of doing this between the rails of an Atlas code 55 turnout, since their throwbar is pretty weak, and easily damaged. You might be able to rig a simple bi-stable spring of thin music wire to the outside end of an Atlas code 55 turnout's throwbar. Piece of wire, two screws, super simple.
> ...


I'm currently using Atlas turnouts, but I'm asking for a module for which I haven't even built the benchwork yet (i.e. I may see about getting a Peco turnout and seeing if I like it). If there were some sort of parallel mounted ground throw, there are.... three? ...turnouts that I could currently use them for, but only because those turnouts are mounted too close to the edge to use them on (yeah, I know, "not supposed to put track that close to the edge").

I've been thinking on this situation and considering making some sort of small post with a linkage, set in a rubber sleeve to give it some "hesitancy" about rotating.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Another option*



Ko Improbable said:


> I'm currently using Atlas turnouts, but I'm asking for a module for which I haven't even built the benchwork yet (i.e. I may see about getting a Peco turnout and seeing if I like it). If there were some sort of parallel mounted ground throw, there are.... three? ...turnouts that I could currently use them for, but only because those turnouts are mounted too close to the edge to use them on (yeah, I know, "not supposed to put track that close to the edge").
> 
> I've been thinking on this situation and considering making some sort of small post with a linkage, set in a rubber sleeve to give it some "hesitancy" about rotating.


Ko Improbable;

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the simple spring idea I suggested, and I'm a digital dummy who doesn't know how to draw something on a computer. I'll try to describe it verbally.
Take a 2-3" long piece of thin (.025 works) steel music wire and form a loop at one end. Slide the still unbent end through the hole in the outside end of the turnout's throwbar. Now bend a loop in this end of the wire. Center the wire on the throwbar so that the two loops are approximately the same distance on either side of the throwbar. Drill a small hole in the plywood through one of the loops, then drive a wood screw through the loop, and into the hole. The head of this screw needs to be big enough to hold the wire loop in place. Take hold of the loop at the opposite end of the wire, and push it toward the screw end, forming an arc with the wire. This will push the throwbar one way or the other. Mark the center of the empty loop while it is held in this new, pushed in, location. Let go of the wire and drill a second hole on the new mark you just made. Drive a second screw into the hole, without the wire, then remove the screw. Doing this taps threads into the wood which will help when you need to re-insert the screw through the spring, under pressure. Thread the second screw through the second loop and snug it down until the loop can just turn around on the screw. Do the same with the first screw. Now flick the wire or throwbar to move the points. That's it, you're done.
Another possibility would be to use the under-the-table machine, described in the attached pdf file, in either of its variants. Neither of these methods will give you the slow action of a Tortoise machine. They are snap action devices. I don't know if that's what you mean by "hesitancy." However both are very simple, and cheap, to build, and very reliable. 

regards;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:

View attachment Assembly instructions for $5 switch machine..pdf


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