Momentary Toggle Switch Control for American Flyer Turnouts

For single lever control, yes... SPDT center off momentary (on)-off-(on).

The capacitive discharge method is only needed if you are using fixed voltage accessory power for the switches in conjunction with a non-derailing feature.

Do the switches you have show position on the original controllers when switched with the "manual" lever?  If not, it will be quite involved to get position indication with LEDs.

Thanks very much, Rob.  Both the original Gilbert American Flyer and the newer Lionel Flyer controllers have red/green lights that correspond to the position of the turnout as indicated by lights on both.  The three attachments here show each of the turnouts as well as a schematic for the newer Lionel American Flyer turnouts.  Hopefully these help answer your question.  I appreciate your help.

@CLTFlyer posted:

Thanks very much, Rob.  Both the original Gilbert American Flyer and the newer Lionel Flyer controllers have red/green lights that correspond to the position of the turnout as indicated by lights on both.

While the new FasTrack switches do indicate actual position, the Gilbert controllers are "dumb" controllers, only indicating the direction that the lever was last thrown and may or may not show the actual indication of the switch position, so getting an indication from the switch itself to an LED indicator will require some modification to the switches and wiring.

I was afraid of that when it came to the original Gilbert AF controllers.  Two questions:

1) Since the Lionel AF switches do indicate actual position, do you have any thoughts on how I might wire a SPDT switch to control the turnouts that correspond to red/green LED indicator lights on my control panel?  If I can only do this with the newer Lionel AF turnouts, I'll still count this as a win.

2) If the original Gilbert AF controllers would need some modifications to the switches and wiring, do you have any thoughts on how I might safely do that?

Kevin

@CLTFlyer posted:

1) Since the Lionel AF switches do indicate actual position,

That is simply a mechanical shutter, no electrical switching is happening.

You would need to add, at a minimum, a SPDT (on-on)  microswitch and a slide, like K-Line did it, or two SPST microswitches to the switch mechanism.  If you want to get fancier even you can even go with a magnet & reed switches inside the switch mechanism.

You have the circuit for the FasTrack switches, you would just need to mimic the controllers with your desired panel switch choice and add LEDs as you wish in the panel.

Atlas 200 Snap Relays provide a set of contacts that would power the red and green indicator lights for the original AF switches. The relay has two positions that would be connected to your Spdt momentary switch.

Rob, thanks very much.  I'll do some research on that.

Rogerdodger: I appreciate the information on the Atlas 200 Snap Relays.  That would be great if I can make that work.  Thank you!!

The relays would work fine to mimic the indication on the controllers, but would still be "dumb" in that they would not indicate the position if the switch is thrown manually. This may not be an issue for your use.