Some years back in a Model railroader story I saw a bent wire use to flip the turnouts. It was inserted between the points and you flipped points back and forth with your finger. Does any body remember this or have plans on how to make theses? It was a table top HO layout the was made for the magazine. I think it was called the Alkali central or something similar.
PECO makes turnouts with that. I pretty sure that is what you are thinking of. A few mudules in my club have them. They are easy to use, but are a little expensive. You could probably make the same system with music wire. In fact, while doing some research for this post, I found a blog with just what you are looking for. It shows how to modify an Atlas switch with a PECO-like spring system. http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2015/01/january-10-2015-turnout-modification.html
