Large Scale Central

AMS Switchstands - Swapping Sides

Of course, prototype switchstands are usually located on the diverging side of the turnout, however… This makes it nearly impossible to construct a yard ladder with AMS switches. Has anyone tried disassembling an AMS Switch and reassembling it with the swtichstand on the tangent side? Or would it make more sense to swap the throwbar/ties/switchstand assembly between a left and a right turnout?

Thanks in advance,

Robert

Robert Murphy said:

Of course, prototype switch stands are usually located on the diverging side of the turnout, however…
Robert

I guess they didn’t get the memo…

The picture of the ladder track, looks correct to me. My thought is that you want to allow your switching crew to handle multiple turnouts without having to cross the tracks.

Here, at Appleyard in Wenatchee, WA, the switch stands appear on the stand on side, for the reason Ric mentioned.

OK, so, apparently my first post wasn’t clear enough, so let me try again.

As I said, switchstands are usually on the diverging side, so AMS modeled their turnouts the same way.

However… On ladder tracks (as I mentioned) have to have them on the tangent side (as the pictures above illustrate)…

I can’t construct a ladder track with AMS turnouts…

Sooooooooooo…

The original question is:

How do I change the switchstands to the other side of the AMS turnouts? Has anyone attempted this before?

Sorry I wasn’t clear in my first post…

Robert

It looks to me that the switchstand could be mounted to either side.

Oh, sorry again, wrong switch. That’s the code 332 mainline switch, I’m using the Code 250 AMS Fn3 1:20.3 switches…

Robert

What is that box?

Coming late to the party, I see this as two separate questions. I think Ric above answered the stand location from an operations standpoint, regardless of whether the switch stand is located on the through side of the or the diverging side of the switch. In operations visibility is the governing factor.

The second question is “Can I mount the stand on the opposite side of the switch from the factory location?” The answer to that is “It depends on the manufacturer.” I am not intimately familiar with those switches, but based on general experience, if they are readily swapped, it is pretty apparent in the switch. From your picture of the switch in question, they may be manufactured to be ordered left or right hand.

My tuppence worth

It has a set of contacts to control the polarity of the frog.

Robert

John Caughey said:

What is that box?

Looks like cutting the long ties, and then grafting them to the other side, no clue on the electrics, a picture of the underside would help.

Greg

Sorry RLD didn’t have the under side pic…

The key to me is whether or not it’s easy to release the throw bar. Since most ties are hollow a splice should be fairly easy. Ties on the outside of the joined ties is another option. If the ends are tapered (mold release) it would be easier to trim the end a tad shorter than open the ends…

Of course the powered frog could be an issue, I ferget that stuff being batty…

Back to the throw bar and the OP’s confidence.

John

I agree with everything you said… was hoping the OP had a picture of the underside…

Greg

Here you go! The only real obstacle I’m seeing right now is that it appears the points are riveted to the throwbar. That might be a bit tricky.

Otherwise, everything is screwed together, and the wires for the frog have terminals that are screwed into the bottom of the rail. I believe, I haven’t thought about it enough yet, that they may need to be reversed…

Robert