~ Andy
About a year ago, we purchased a Model #220S ground throw made by Caboose Industries. We have used their ground throws on many of our turnouts - essentially all that are not electrified with Tortorice switch machines. I had seen the ones with contacts advertised, but never really understood how they worked, so I bought one just to experiment with. These are ingenious little devices! They are useful for powering turnout frogs or operating dwarf signals to indicate turnout position. Essentially, they are a SPDT switch built into the ground throw. Here are a few photos showing how they work. If you've not understood how they worked (like me), this may spark some ideas for how you could use one. ~ Andy This installation is to power a long frog on a #8 turnout. We have another location where it would be helpful to know which way a turnout is thrown viewed from 10-12 feet away, and one of these could be used to power a red/green dwarf signal. It is a pretty clever idea.
4 Comments
Robert M Braeuner
5/5/2017 08:52:39 pm
Nice job Andy, great informative article on these. Definitely will pick some up
Reply
David Giardino
1/19/2019 03:59:11 pm
How does the brass piece go on top of the throw
Reply
Andrew Blenko
1/21/2019 11:41:31 am
There are two copper contacts - one fixed and one that is part of the lever. When you move the ground throw lever, it moves the contact sideways, making contact with the opposite point on the fixed contact.
Reply
Juan Jose Rodriguez Schwendener
1/16/2022 11:31:50 am
Hello Andy,
Reply
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