I just stumbled across some one who is carrying slow motion switch machines made in Switzerland I believe. This is a product which has been around for a long time. I am wondering if any of the swiss forum member's here are familiar with it. Unfortunately I have drawn a blank on the brand name. For Canada, the price is substantially below switch machine's brand or tortoises so I am interested. A buddy of mine bought two of them so I will see if I can get the brand name out of him. Here in Vancouver, you can ten of them for $15 a piece, whereas tortoises here go for around $26 a pop. I like them because they can be flat mounted under the layout (room is an issue) and tortoises are mounted so that the long lenght hangs down. Is anyone familiar with these powered switch machines, especially Sandro and folks from around there? [ 12. November 2002, 18:55: Message edited by: rsn48 ]
I think this could be the Fulgurex switch machines with a motor drive. Since Fulgurex does (or did???) import mostly brass engines, I doubt they were made in Switzerland. It may be that they are also sold under the Lemaco brand, another swiss brass importer. If you look for motor-driven switch machines, I can recommend Bemo, a german brand, I used several of them and despite an abnormal high load, they worked without problems. Christoph
I have used the Fulgurex and the Lemaco machines. Both are similar, having a small motor driving a worm gear which moves the actuating bar, and they have contacts built in to switch frog polarity, signals, etc. My main dislike of these machines (apart from the cost) is the noise when operated at the full voltage. If voltage to the motor is reduced they are somewhat quieter. I have instead regularly used double-solenoid type switch machines powered through a capacitor-discharge unit to ensure point throw and also prevent coil burn-outs.
