Model Railroading > What are good ground throws for turnouts?

I have several used walthers shinohara turnouts and some peco turnouts, but they have totally different linkage systems. What kind of ground throws should I use? Can I know ahead of time that the linkages will work, or will I have to do some home engineering after I get the ground throws?

Posted from iPhone

The Caboose Industries throws come with an assortment of adapters that handle most of the common turnout point bars.

They make many varieties, but I would suggest the 'sprung' versions.

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I agree with the hand throws.  It is even possible to use N scale ons in HO.  Our club has used the N on HO.

That's great! Very helpful.

Posted from iPhone

We've been using these:

http://bittercreekmodels.com/page11.html

KA7008 Wrote:
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> We've been using these:
>
> http://bittercreekmodels.com/page11.html

I found out about those from Rob Spangler; will probably order some this summer to try out.  I have Caboose Industries as well.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

santafedan Wrote:
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> I agree with the hand throws.  It is even
> possible to use N scale ons in HO.  Our club has
> used the N on HO.

Using what Caboose Industries calls "N-scale" ground throws on HO turnouts works fine, IF the points have close tolerances and the lateral throw needed to reliably close the points is not too much.  Some of the Walthers/Shinohara code 83 turnuts have pretty wide-open points, some are so wide the normal HO size ground throw doesn't have the lateral movement needed.  In fact, I've found some different Walthers production runs have different tolerances, so it pays to check.  I ended up needing the O-scale ground throws for use on all their curved turnouts.  Yeah the O-scale ground throws are a bit bigger than I'd ideally prefer, but reliable operation takes precedence on my layout.  Investing in one N-scale ground throw is worth it, if only to verify if they'll work for you.

- Norm

If you want to be creative, then look at the armstrong leavers from hump yard purveyance.