I recently picked up some used 027 switches and was wondering if the 042 radius switches are of the non-derailing type? (#s 5167 and 5168) When I hook them up all I get is a buzzing sound as soon as I apply track power. Im new to this, but it sounds like (from what I've read so far) that this is symptomatic of a non-derailing switch with no insulated pins. If they are indeed of the non-derailing type, where do I have to place insulated pins in order to have them operate correctly? Thanks in advance for any answers.
IIRC the insulating pins went next to the frog. I sold my switches almost 20 years ago but I remember the buzzing sound you discribe. Try it and see if that doesn't help. Those non derailing switches were really neat for a reverse loop as you just could let the train go on its merry way without worring about the switches. Hope that helps. Greg
Thanks for the post Greg, as it turns out, the switches do require the insulated pins to be on the inner rail of both paths (inner in this case meaning the rails closest to one another on the different paths, not the actual middle rail). It took me forever with experimentation to figure that out. The toggles also only hook up one way, if you get the outer wires reversed the switch will only throw one way and you will get a buzz as well. It only took me about 3 hours to fix both problems. *Doh* Oh well, thats what I get for buying used switches and not having the instuctions. I managed to save myself about 250 bucks buying used though. Thanks for the answer though. I appreciate it.
Glad you found the solution Bill. I guess when I said next to the frog, I should have said the inside rails. Even with the time spent figuring out the problem, $250 saved is a great deal. So, what will you be running on your layout? Greg
Well, a little bit of everything, I've just gotten back into the hobby seriously. My dad and grandpa were big lionel (3 rail) fans and it wore off on me at a young age. My parents split when I was younger and my dad ended up selling everything I had accumulated up until that point. When I turned 30 I was feeling old and semi-nostalgic and saw some MPC era Blue-Comet cars for sale on E-bay. Having spent every bit of birthday and chore money on the same set when I was younger I thought they might be a nice way to recapture a bit of lost childhood. I bid on them, won them and that started a 2 or 3 year odyssey so far thats culminated with a small 4x15 layout in my garage. At the moment I have everything from first part of the century (2-6-4/2-6-2 post war era engines), a new jersey GP-9 and a dual alco amtrak unit with extra cars. I just got back from the GATS show in Las Vegas where I picked up a 6 car UP HW consist (18" cars) and an MTH rail-king UP gas turbine that seems to be giving me some fits (protosound1). Im going to be posting more on that in another post.
