the bearing tube. File the edges down to
the bend so the pivot shaft fits right up
to the tube at the bend point. To check
your filing and make sure there is no in-
advertent bend in the pivot shaft, place
the shaft upside down in the tube and
flick the crank arm with your finger. If
the pivot crank spins freely, you've done
it right.
The upper pivot arm needs to he
adapted to the brand of turnout you are
using. Since all my turnouts are home-
made using glass epoxy throw rods, I
simply drill a No. 66 bole at the end of
the throw rod and make a 90 degree
bend in a short length of .032" music
wire; this is inserted in the holes in the
pivot shaft and throw rod. The fact that
the pivot shaft can move no more than
     approximately 1/16” vertically prevents
the pivot arm from popping out of the
throw rod, and the restricted horizontal
movement of the throw rod perpendicu-
lar to the pivot arm prevents it from
moving out of the pivot shaft. Figure 4
shows alternate configurations of the
upper pivot arm for some of the commer-
cially available turnouts.
I have found that using .032" music
wire for an upper pivot with the pivot
crank centered 5/8" from turnout throw
rod gives just about the right tension on
the points for HO standard gauge. (The
points require about a 0.10" throw.) Ap-
proximately the same amount of tension
can be obtained by using spring brass if
a .040" diameter pivot arm is needed.
This size wire is required to fill the pre-
drilled hole in BK Enterprises or Shino-
hara throw rods to avoid slop. It is also
used for Peco turnouts since it can easily
be formed into the loop required to fit
over the protrusion on the Peco throw
rod. It is important to allow for some
flexing of the wire since this is the only
place in the linkage where any will
occur and the Tortoise switch motor
should be allowed to complete its travel
so its electrical contacts will work well.
As noted on Figure 4, the upper pivot
arm should be soldered to the pivot
crank for commercial turnout applica-
tions to prevent the pivot arm from ro-
tating axially on Peco, BK Enterprises
and Shinohara turnouts, or laterally for
the Walthers turnouts.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN

For turnout points requiring less
throw, as is the case on a double slip
switch, or for turnouts that have proto-
typically-dimensioned point gaps, locate
the pivot arm ½” from the throw rod and
use .025" diameter music wire for the
upper pivot arm. One could also length-
en the throw on the crank arm on the
pivot crank to reduce the tension on the
points. For wider gauges reduce the
length of the lower cranli arm to increase
the throw of the upper arm. Some exper-
imentation may be required to suit your
particular need. Simply drill additional
holes in the crank arm closer to the pivot
and select the one that gives the neces-
sary throw for lhe application.
Figure 5 shows an adjustable connect-
ing rod developed by my good friend,
Steve O’Keefe, for use on the Waynes-
boro Model Railroad Club layout where
some switch machines needed to be lo-
cated as much as 24" from the pivot
craok.lt allows for precise adjustment
between the Tortoise and the pivot crank
after the switch motor is fastened in
place to the underside of the layout. The
connector uses material from a wire coat
hanger, a hollow wall anchor (like a
Moly-brand "bolt") and a piece of music
wire. Instead of clamping the connecting
rod to the Tortoise output arm, the bent
end of the coat hanger just fits in the
larger hole where the clamping screw
would go. The connection to the crank
arm of the pivot crank is bent down in-
stead of up, as with the music wire con-
necting rod, since the weight of the con-
necting rod assembly is sufficient to hold
it in place.  Of course,  this  same  ad-
justable connecting rod can be made as
short as a few inches, in which case the
Tortoise can be located and fastened in
place without the use of the positioning
jack (described below) and the ad-
justable rod can be used to precisely
align the throw of the turnout points.
Going back to Figure 1, the mounting
arrangement of the Tortoise is shown on
the l"x 3" wood base. The switch motor
is centered on the lower edge of the l"x
3" wood base with the angles attached as
shown. The angle brackets are used to
attach the wood block to the underside of
the layout. It should be positioned so
that the connecting rod is in line with

the motion of the Tortoise output arm.
If you are using the 5/8" corner braces
from Concord Electronics you may find
that the assembly sags a little after it is
fastened to the underside of the layout. I
didn't find this to be a problem, but you
can overcome it by locating angle bracli-
ets on opposing sides of the wood block.
You may also want to make the wood
block slightly wider than 2 1/2" to allow
more room on the switch motor side.
Positioning the assembly under the
layout to give precisely the right amount
of throw in each direction can be difficult
when one is working alone. I solved this
problem years ago by using an old screw
type car jack to hold it up against the un-
derside of the layout but still allowing for
shght movement to position it properly. I
also use a temporary alligator clip and
wire connection to the terminals of the
Tortoise to move it back and forth while
I observe the linkage and point move-
ment; this is controlled by a toggle
switch wired into the leads. Once every-
thing is satisfactorily aligned, I fasten it
with screws through the angle brackets
to the underside of the layout and re-
move the jack.
When I started thinking about this ar-
ticle I realized that everyone out there
might not have a convenient car jack
lying around just waiting to be used for
this purpose, so after some thought I
came upon a idea that works even bet-
ter.  It utilizes  the clamp mechanism
from an expandable pressure-mounted
child's security gate and a tumbuckle.
The security gate is a Geny Mesh Se-
curity Gate, Model 202, available at gen-
eral merchandise discount stores for
about $13.00. I removed the expansion
lock mechanism, which expands from
26" to 42" in half-inch intervals. I drilled
and tapped one end of the wood expan-
sion rod for a 3/16"-24 screw. I then cut
the eyebolts off a W-24 thread turn-
buckle and threaded one end into the
tapped hole in the expansion lock mech-
anism to get a convenient jack mecha-
nism with rough Vz" adjustments fine-
tuned with the tumbuckle to whatever
pressure is needed. To hold the turn-
buckle against the bottom of l"x 3" wood
block I drill a 1/4" diameter hole about ¼”
deep, centered in the lower edge. This
system works just great. I hope it does
for you.