Extension pins!

I am eventually going to have motorised points on my Last Great Project layout which will avoid having to switch them with my fingers. All very high tech but it does mean a lot of work. The point motors are the Peco solenoid ones which have an actuating pin that attaches to the tie bar in the point. Apply electricity to the solenoid from one direction and the point moves one way, change the polarity of the electricity and it moves the other.

The Peco motors are designed to fit directly to the point but means you have a big hole in the baseboard which I am not keen on. It also makes changing the point motor, if it fails, very difficult. I therefore mount the motor to a plastic base that Peco makes for this purpose. The plastic base secures the motor and can be screwed to the underside of the baseboard. The only problem is that the actuating pin is then too short to attach to the tie bar of the point. Not a problem as you can lengthen the pin with some brass tube and steel wire which handily the WMD Stores had in stock.

Having measured it did not take too long to make the extension pieces.

It became a bit of a production line. Altogether, on this baseboard I need eigh point motors.

 

It was then onto mounting the plastic bases.

I just need to fix them to the baseboard and then wire them up. Not much to do then!