I have several remote Atlas turnouts in places that I often operate. There are two sets of two turnouts, so that one remote controller operates two turnouts. These are located at places that are accessable but a little far for my eyes and I always wanted to be able to look at the layout and see quickly how these were oriented especially if I was involved in switching oerations in the last session were interrupted. There are a couple of others that I also wanted to see at a glance trackside without going back to the panel of controllers. I have been researching now and then for trackside turnout indicators. I had an old Atlas O36 turnout that fried and I have been using that to tinker with ideas to use the slide nub to operate an arm to change a flag color. Of course that involves the color relative to the location of the observer. But I want the info usually when I am by the turnout controll panel so that is my primary viewpoint.
(Boy the OCD is really kicking in.) There are several manufactured scale versions with lights that are very nice and not horribly expensive if buying one but I am thinking about a minimum of six and probably eight. So today I got out my junk turnout and some plastic and cardboard and glue and came up with something that is probably not an original thought but it actually works. Maybe it can be designed to have a little more toy train flavor cosemetically, but for now the important thing is that at a glance I can see the orientation of critical turnouts and where the trains are headed.
Ingrediants: 1. Thin cardboard or plastic that is rigid. (I used the tab part of an old file folder as the base of the swing arm and the thinner cardboard for the flag support.) 2. Graph paper and glue. 3. A one and a half inch thin finishing nail.
Process: 1. For the base of the arm, cut a rectangle (1.5 inches x .5 inches) out of the file tab cardboard. 2. Draw a line length wise dividing the base in half. 3. A quarter inch from the left end place a mark on that line. This will be the hole for the finishing nail, the anchor for the arm. 4. Mearsure 9/16ths from the anchor mark. Draw a 1/16th inch x 9/16ths rectangle that bisects the line. Cut out this piece. This is the slot for nub that slides along the top trackside switch controller. 5. Punch the hole for the finishing nail and enlarge that and the slot as necessary to allow easy movement. Cut out cardboard for the size flags you want. I made mine not quite a half inch for each. I cut the piece so when folded each half was a flag. I also allowed enough so that the bottom edge could be folded 90 degrees and trimmed for gluing to the base.
Geometry: This is what did FWIW. The Atlas slide nub travels a smidge over 1 inch. I measured the distance from nub to the edge of the outside of the switch activator to be 3/4 of an inch. Did a test install to see where the flag support should be located on the base so that when the switch was fully deployed in either direction, I knew where I wanted the support to be glued and at what angle the flags would be visible. It was not quite a 90 degree angle on paper but it sure looks very close in operation. So sorry for the lengthy discription. I will post photos soon.
