i am looking for lighted swith controls (red/green) for operating turnouts, brand name and where to purchase any suggestions?

-- david a merriam (merriamd@aol.com), March 16, 2001

Answers

I cannot help but think that such a switch would be costly. Since turnout switches tend to be momentary (you throw the toggle and it returns to the center off position) any indicator would end up being momentary as well (the light would stay on only as long as the toggle of the switch was thrown off of center). The switch would probably have some kind of relay thing or logic thing happening to maintain the lighted situation.

Now, what happens when you shut off the power to your control panel and then re-power up. The switches will still be in the *last-thrown* position but any external lights would not be on at all.

I use PECO switches in my layout. I use the PECO accessory switch to maintain my *always-on* condition for my indicator lamps. The control panel swtich is SPDT and when thrown throws the PECO turnout AND its accessory switch.

I have wired a bi-polar LED to the accessory switch and it is adjacent to the SPDT switch on the control panel. When I power up the next time, the LEDs are all lit indicating the current turnout throws over the whole layout.

So, I think you may have to consider a multiple device situation to achieve what you want. A single device may exist but I cana't help but think it would be costlier than having a few more components.

-- Doug Fraser (dfraser1951@rogers.com), April 17, 2002.