I'm back with surface mount switch machines (366)

Everyone eventually runs into a situation where installing a Tortoise, iP Digital, or other switch machine just won't fit under the layout due to some interference. In this video I'll show you how to use DCCconcepts' Cobalt-SS surface mount switch machines with either DC or DCC power. And I'll show you a new model of the Westinghouse electro-pneumatic switch machines used by many railroads around the world during the first half of the 20th century and are still in use today. For more info on those still used in the Chicago area visit chi.streetsblo... .

[@steveross129]

Great to see you back making videos.

[@johnstone6047]

Glad to hear from you again. Hope you are doing well. Thank you for this new video.

[@alexmorgan2296]

Thank you for a really helpful explanation of these turnouts motors - the days of struggling under baseboards to fit turnout motors are gone (so say my aching joints!) so these are a real boon.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Glad it helped

[@ed66645]

Great to see you making videos again larry🎉😅

[@Fred-x4w]

Good to see you again, hope you are doing well ,you have been missed

[@bernicemeade3232]

Wow he's back nice

[@darthwalls1]

Glad to see you back! Hope you are doing well!

[@bcrlwy]

Thanks for this one and others that give a much needed review of new products. I really enjoy your how to build videos and these product reviews. Glad you able to do them and I wish you well and good health that is more important. Happy Railroading Larry from an old retired train dispatcher TWS.

[@tonydaly2642]

Good to see you back Larry 👍

[@michaelsullivan2361]

Glad you’re back, Larry!!!

[@billjacon4527]

Good to see you back Larry!!

[@What_If_We_Tried]

Larry, so glad to hear that you were able to sell a lot of stuff in bulk, and I'm looking forward to your hew add-ons to you small existing layout modules.

[@ToccoaFallssRR]

Glad you’re back! Looking forward to watching upcoming videos..

[@GreatNW]

Those are pretty neat, i am building a small layout and my plan is to use bachmann ez track dcc switches with dcc already built in. I decided this due to footprint, i can blend and cut the plastic roadbed to match my atlas but it gives me a working self contained switch. Even cooler is they have a metal frog that can be powered or unpowered, or you can wire in a frog juicer. I might look into these though for a future build, but what i really want is a extremely small working switch stand.

[@greatnorthernrailwaytother4711]

Hi Larry, good to see you back. Hope you are doing well. Cheers Peter from downunder.

[@RonStanek]

Happy Trails, Larry....the hobby keeps rolling on....good to see your content. You always seem to keep up with the times. Some just try and keep it simple. Good Luck, with the liquidation, hope it goes well.

[@JeffHanna-f3d]

Great to see you back! Hope all is well. Take care.

[@johnhermanson5249]

Welcome back, thank you for the video. After being out of the hobby for many years and getting back into it, I will be installing this kind of ground throw instead of crawling under my layout to put in Tortoise machines. These top deck switch machines look like a good idea, and I love the slow motion effect.

[@rl7881]

Great to see you back in action again Larry, as enthusiastic as ever and continuing to provide inspiration to all your followers.

[@paulatherton985]

Welcome back!!! Hope you are doing well and getting back to your rhythm. As always, great information.

[@johnchadwick4222]

Welcome back, happy designing.

[@amyreynolds3619]

Glad to see you back I hope one time in the train show in Fletcher, NC.

[@hdwood76fxe]

Hi Larry, Good to see you. I noticed your skin and nail color looks good. Wishing you the best. 👍😊🙏

[@TheDCCGuy]

You can’t tell anything from colors, my lights are not really color balanced and I don’t both the adjust color so it is what it is. You can actually see the color shift as I go from one scene to another in the videos since the camera takes a few seconds to adjust to light shifts.Because of the bright lights I use I am a little bit darker than what appears on the videos.

[@johnkeitley9168]

Hi Larry, been thinking of you with the flooding and damage in western NC. Hoping all is well with you.

[@Wayne56089]

Good to see new content 👍👍👍

[@charleymartin9422]

Fridays are back to normal !

[@andrewstevenson5449]

Great to see you back. Yes, you get more money selling model railway stock off individually, but if you have a lot, it's more cost effective in time and hassle to just find a dealer, as you have done.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Yes, given what it took to sell off a hundred or so locos I could only shudder at what it would take for 600 freight cars, 150 passenger cars, an additional 100 locos, and assorted kits.

[@markmatteo2417]

@@TheDCCGuygreat video nice to see you back.

[@richmurphy6043]

Larry forgot to post this after watching your video. Have been watching you for years and all through those years you have helped me personally through some difficult and easy DCC solutions. For me and probably countless others, thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us.

[@deanmeyer4214]

I’m done with the hobby it’s to expensive for me to stay in it. I can’t compete with the rich guys anymore. I’ll be selling all my stuff soon too.

[@scentgrasslakerailway]

Very happy to see you again, stay in great health please.

[@flagman515]

Welcome back sir! Thank you for continuing to educate the model railroading community. Stay well.

[@BobR-gy5gx]

Another great informative video!! Hope all is well. Happy that you're back! I appreciate you're time and effort that it takes to make these videos. Thank you Larry!!

[@bernicemeade3232]

ABS signal for me

[@nickvellis9823]

Hi Larry, good to see you back. Hope you are doing well.

[@peteengard9966]

Great to see you again. Would they be strong enough for hand laid solid rail turnouts? Non hinged throw bars? Thank you Larry.

[@TheDCCGuy]

That would be a question for DCC Concepts’ tech support guys.

[@AndrewGriffiths-j5t]

I have found that if you cut the power off, when the point is in one position. When you turn the power back on you get a frog power problem.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Interesting, have you contact their tech support to see if you may have a defective mechanism? Although I have not opened up the enclosure it appears to have either a multi-contact DPDT switch inside that reverses the LED, SPDT, and frog circuits simultaneously. I’ll test the one I have as soon as I get time to dig it out of the box again but if you are in the UK a quick call should get you an answer faster.

[@mattw9667]

Great overview, however the price for these units is pretty much a non-starter. Not even for those few special locations where they could come in handy. Sorry to be a downer but it has to be said.

[@michaelhband]

👍👍👍❤❤❤🚂🚂🚂

[@stevestallings8766]

Really appreciate your videos, especially those on signaling. Every one is valuable even though we model in different scales. In 1:64 we need to do a great deal more scratch building than other scales and your videos a full of useful ideas and circuits.

[@riogrande5761]

Larry, I have Peco Electrofrog turnouts and connected above ground Peco switch machines. However, they don't seem to have enough power to throw the points as the turnouts come out of the box. Does that mean I must removed the Peco turnouts and take out the srping the lets them finger flick?

[@TheDCCGuy]

That’s a possible solution. But you don’t always need to remove the turnout to take out the spring. I have just used a #17 chisel knife blade slipped between the ties to push the spring out. Another possible issue is the unifrog has a continuous rail instead of a jointed connection between the closure and point rails. This creates a slightly stiffer rail which may also be more than the Peco machine can handle. If that’s the case then you may need a Tortoise or iP Digital switch motor.

[@riogrande5761]

​@@TheDCCGuythese are code 100 electro frog so the don't have continuous rail. I did try using the above ground peco switch machines but they failed to throw the points so I'm assuming the built in spring is too much to overcome. I'll take a look tomorrow since I'm off from work. Thanks for answering!

[@chugwaterjack4458]

I have quite a few point motors set up remotely from their throws, one up to 18" away. For any distance at all, I put the throw rod through a 1/8" brass tube for most of its length, and I can then readily install scenery right over the length, except for a bout a half inch clear at each end. This eliminates any tendency for long rods to bend or the need for heavier rodding. Most of my remote motors are either MP-1's or MP-10's, controlled from a Megapoints panel. The MP-10's are a real delight to work with as the connection panel can be removed to install the wires, then plugged back into the machine - very handy for remote/difficult installations. The throw length is a bit fiddly with removing part of the face to change a pin, but fine adjustment in place is a snap. They also feature two SpDt switches for frog power, signals, panel info, etc.

[@johnpetru4133]

Great to see you again, Larry!

[@richardallan2331]

Great to see you back Larry. Another great video. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to next.

[@peterbradford5987]

Great video Larry. Good to see you back.

[@elsdp-4560]

Thank you for sharing. Glad to see you back.👍

[@ericbulich9812]

Glad to see you back buddy 🙏🏻

[@genejablonski9909]

Great to see you and hope you continue to do well for many laps around the sun.

[@artiekrass7391]

Another great video Larry - and glad to see and hear you again - all the best!

[@phillperry487]

Great to see you back mate

[@ronaldrondeau7870]

Thanks Larry good to see you back

[@georgeronn1263]

Fairly new to your channel (just over 1year). Have you ever reviewed the MP1 thru MP4 turnout switch machines available from Model Railroad Control Systems? I tried them on my layout simply because I screwed up and mounted a couple turnouts too close to the framing underneath the layout to mount a Tortoise switch machine (yes I tried the Tortoise remote mount and found it too finicky. At any rate I like the MP1 because I can control it with my existing Barrett Hill Shop turnout control system, though it does need a different interface board than the Tortoise machines. The MP1 can be mounted “remotely” from the desired location and provided the steel wire used is stiff enough it will through the turnout easily. I mount them unaesthetic, but they are small enough you could surface mount them and easily disguise them.

[@TheDCCGuy]

They look interesting enough, maybe they’ll send me a couple to test out on the channel.

[@jamesherring4480]

Great to see you back !

[@amyreynolds3619]

Did you contact Todd in South Carolina?

[@TheDCCGuy]

Todd who? I am selling to Steve Anderson who lives down near Hendersonville, NC.

[@andrewdegenhardt6103]

Can you add me to that email with the eBay units and also in contact with the selling that bought most of your stuff?

[@TheDCCGuy]

No email, I ‘ll just mention it in an upcoming video.

[@andrewdegenhardt6103]

Okay thank you for all the good info

[@gsigs]

Larry, is there any way to find out to which shows the dealer will be going? I would love to have one of your boxcars roaming my layout. I would make the trip to the Raleigh show this year if I knew he would be there. (Or even better, the New Bern show.)

[@TheDCCGuy]

I suspect he will be at just about all shows within driving distance of Asheville. For example I know he does the shows in Atlanta. Other than that I have no list of specific shows he will attend but I will ask him when he comes back for more.

[@markmatteo2417]

@@TheDCCGuy Larry, can these switch machines be activated with any other devices other than the controller shown? Like other turnout decoders? Thanks!

[@TheDCCGuy]

I doubt it. The circuit is calibrated to only run the motor long enough to throw the points a specific distance and then shut off.

[@mapit07]

Hi I’m interested in adding ambient sound to various areas on my layout. Have you ever done this?

[@TheDCCGuy]

Do a search for “model railroad sound modules” and you will get a number of sources.

[@mapit07]

@@TheDCCGuythanks I did and it revealed one or two solid enterprises that specialize in the niche

[@georgejetson4378]

Please explain how adding all of this additional costly and IMO unnecessary circuitry is better than the old fashioned method of just using a DC powered solenoid switch machine. This an example of why I can no longer afford this hobby. Unnecessary complication and expense to solve a simple problem that already had a long established and economical solution! I guess if you’re one of the lucky few with tons of disposable income as so many of model railroader you tube posters seem to be, then I guess this is a desirable solution.

[@TheDCCGuy]

It is not my purpose to decide who can and cannot afford this technology. I only present information on what is available and how it works. What you and others decide to spend your money on is your business not mine!