QUOTE (80class @ 24 Feb 2008, 15:22)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>As the topic of scale point motors has been raised, here at 1:1 scale model taken on Friday in Aberdeen just before I got on the train to Glasgow for MRS:
This is of a type known as a clamp lock. The point is powered by a hydraulic cylinder running laterally between the rails, not much bigger than a tiebar. You can just see the yellow covers protecting the ends of the clamp lock where they protrude outside the rails. The silver box is a pump which powers the hydraulics. Though this one isn't, the box is often located clear of the track so that emergency manual operation of the point (and some maintenance tasks) can take place from a place of safety, leaving very little equipment around the point itself.
You will also see conventional point machines of various types, the new Peco motor looks a little like these but is way over scale. Some new installations use the HPSS which has a rotating rod and various yellow covers between the rails.
