Scaletrax turnouts...can they be used manually??

You need to drill a small hole in the throw bar and add a brass wire from the ground throw to the turnout throw bar. There's a little bit of area between the magnet that connects to the ScaleTrax switch motor and the rail that you can drill through as I recall.

On my micro layout, I just pushed the points into place manually. On another one I'm starting on I plan to use Tortoise machines.

Thanks Matt!

Hi Pat,

It is doable, but I recommend replacing the stock ScaleTrax throw bar for easier mounting of the Caboose ground throws.  The Caboose ground throws are designed to mate with a flat throw bar like you'll find on Ross or Gargraves switches.  You can make the same type of throwbar for ScaleTrax switches with styrene strip and two #0-72 panhead machine screws.  Here's a photo of a couple switches with this mod run by Tortoise motors and connected to Ross #50 switch stands.

Thanks Dave. You are using the small screws to replace the plastic tabs that hold the throw bar, through the metal tabs, to the rail?

Hi Pat,

IIRC, the throw bar material is .125 x .080 styrene.  I drilled pilot holes for the screws with a #53 drill bit.  The important part is to get the spacing of the pilot holes the same as the spacing of the plastic tabs on the stock ScaleTrax throw bar.  The screws are inserted vertically through the eyelet on each point.  With the right pilot hole size the screws will self tap into the styrene and the plastic will act as a lock nut that prevents vibration from loosening the screw.

I did one using Matt's suggestion.  While Dave's looks great, I'm not a good modeler.  Here was the way I ended up doing the others with Scaletrax and the 208S starting at 1:20.  I did not want to remove or modify the stock throw bar.