caboose industries high level switch throw

Anyone?

I talked to Caboose Ind at the Mad City train show Sat. He said they dont make any high levels for O scale yet but are possibly working on it.

 But they have Easy to install Ground throws  They have rigid ones for mounting away from the switch #107R  and sprung ones for mounting on the switch itself #208S.  I got some of the O scale .280 travel sprung ones part #208S  

The tall switch stand will probably NOT work because it does not have enough throwing distance to close the points for O gauge.

I actually talked to the owner about producing the tall throw in O at Trainfest in Milwaukee in 2012. His response was there wasn't enough demand for it, and the mold cost was too high to do it.

Ya you are right Elliot he said that you need a .280" of travel for O scale and the high level that is available is only .190"

Yeah Chad, that is unfortunate because they look really cool. I had a couple back in my HO days 35 years ago and loved them.

I think he said the mold cost was going to be around 30 to 40 grand. The product would probably have to sell for 8 to 10 bucks. I actually thought about investing in the project, but thought better of it since the ROI would take a really long time.

There is another product out there, but it isn't exactly the same. The Hump Yard throw also looks really cool, but unlike the Caboose throws, it is intended to be mounted away from the switch, and is connected by a "choke cable" and crank linkage system. I recently bought some of these.

Man, you never know what you are going to learn when you ask something.  I like those hump yard switches.  It makes this much more active and has the look and feel of a real switch tower.

I use the HO ones for 2-rail O-Scale and they have plenty of throw.    I have used the hyigh level ones too.   They work great and are straight forward to install.    The highlevel ones can be more easily broken if someone in your group manhandles them wrong - - uses them like the low level for example.  

Buy one and see if it has enought throw for your use.   Most LHS stock them.

I can see how the Caboose high throws would work for 2 rail. The rail is smaller. The flanges are smaller. Therefore the throw distance is sufficient. I still don't think it'll work for 3 rail.

You're right David, I learned about the Hump Yard throws here on the forum when someone else mentioned them. I'm pretty sure that there aren't many people here that actually use them. The six in the photo are in my yard where it is rather hard to reach. The rest of the yard is done with regular Cabooses.

If you do decide to get some Hump Yards, there is a lot of assembly required.

Photographic evidence of the use of Caboose Industries hi level switch stands in active use on my 2 rail railroad. I do hand lay the switches and perhaps the ready to run switches used in 3rail may not be candidates of a similar application. Buy and try is a reasonable experiment.

Bob

One thing about using a control cable you would be 99.9% sure the switch was thrown.

You could use a Ross # 50 switch stand to show the position.

Might have to look into this for a few Ross switches I have that seem to be problematic.

Flanger your switch stand looks great. Can you tell me what brand and color paint you used for red and green.  What do you use to simulate rust?

Do you have more pictures of your layout you would share?

I ordered two and built one at lunch today.  I can say there is enough throw to work on my Ross switch.

Thank you. I used Floquil Signal Red and Signal Green...the rust is some off brand rust powder I've had forever. I post pictures occasionally, do a back search for some, and eventually I will take more and post again..

Bob

Interesting... I'll have to give them another try.