Has anyone ever put or scratchbuilt a highball tower on their layout? If so does it operate like the real thing, if not then I can suggest it.
What would you use for the balls, lead ball sinkers for fishing? May work, they crimp around the fishing line, why not around a fine sewing thread? How do you propose to operate them, by hand?
Think about this '...bigboy' If you run the line (rope) thru the subroadbed to under your layout into a pully, then connect a Tortoise switch machine, you must change the lateral motion of the Tortise to the rotary motion of the pully. [Watash can help you with that part]. I think a simple bell crank would do. Wire the Tortoise with about 8 Volts DC, it will run very slow. Use either a manual SPST toggle to operate it or track sensors and you have a fully automatic signal. e-mail me if you want more help.
