[andysmith]

Hi All,

Can anyone help me? I recently purchased a large quantity of Hornby, Atlas & Lima points. I cant get the lima or the Atlas points to work correctly. If I run a loco into a siding and then close the point, only the main oval should be powered? Thats what happens with my Hornby points but not the others. I dont understand, please help!

Thanks

Andy

 

[ironduke]

Hi Andy,
that's right they don't work the same. You'll have to do it the hard way with an insulated joiner and a switch

 

[andysmith]

Hi Rob,

Can you explain that a litte further to me? The points came with a switch to move the point, is this the kind of switch I need or are there additional things? Also.... Insulated Joiners? For someone that is new to this I have no idea.....

Thanks so much,

Andy

 

[ironduke]

Andy,
Joiners are also called fishplates (depending on what country you're from). They are used to connect your track together. They are normally made of metal because they also carry electricity. Insulated joiners/fishplates are made of plastic and are used to electrically isolate sections of track from each other.
So if you want your siding to be dead sometimes you need to insert an insulated Fishplate (just 1) instead of a metal one onto the Atlas point.

You then need to connect an extra power feed to the siding which you can turn on or off with a switch.
like this from Hornby:

Oddly enough, Hornby don't seem to make insulated fishplates but Peco do and they can be used on Hornby track.

 

[John Webb]

Hornby don't make insulated fishplates because their points are 'Self-isolating' - the point itself does the switching, as you've found out.
The Peco items you require are SL11 "Rail Joiners, insulated, for code 100 rail" - these are packs of 12 joiners - cost is around £1.55 per pack.
Regards,
John Webb