# Building a Spring Switch



## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey everyone,
I got a question about how I built a "spring switch" in my Garden railroad build thread:
http://forums.mylargescale.com/16-t...oadbed/82098-building-stonehedge-railway.html

Rather than post the reply there, I thought it made more sense to give it it's own thread.
I'll post three videos that give the full story:

May 2018, the video that shows the two switches in place on my railroad:





At the start of the video, im moving the points by hand.
And I forgot to add something in that video: You cut the safety pin leaving an inch or so on either side of the spring, then bend two 90-degree bends to make the bits that stick down into the holes. Probably pretty obvious!  but I meant to discuss that in the video, then forgot to do so.

And the follow-up video about why im droping the idea, for me and my situation:
https://youtu.be/ekr_rui4W-A?t=282


As I said, this idea can work great for some, especially if you are running diesels. But I made the choice to not use it after all, because it doesn't work as well for me because of steam locomotive pilot wheels, and the simplicity of two straight tracks works much better for me. But its a cool idea! and can definitely be useful in the right situation.

Hope this helps explain everything!  any additional questions, feel free to ask.
thanks,
Scot


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