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Martin Prince
All pictures by the author

My early research into a means for controlling our club exhibition layout involved much time spent looking at the back as well as front of layouts at shows. Whilst doing this I came across several layouts that had point levers instead of more traditional switches. My experience had been with using switches but the levers appeared to offer a more realistic way of operating. We decided to proceed with switches for our club layout, but I wanted to look further into the option of levers for the construction of my own layout Marchants Cross.

Initially this involved asking many questions and discussing their use with layout operators. Subsequent internet searches also revealed quite a few commercial systems available, of different designs. Once the decision was made to go ahead, I needed to decide whether to go down the ready-made route or make them myself.

After looking at product reviews and YouTube clips I alighted on the Scalefour Society etched lever kit. The etches are available from their stores, can be used for any gauge and each kit will build five levers. It is also worth searching the internet for relevant reviews, as I also then found that the Model Railway Journal (No 225, 2013) had an article on this particular product. A ready-made item would have been the most straightforward way to proceed, but I put this thought aside in favour of a challenge. I placed an order for an etch and a set of steel handles, which arrived very promptly.

Included in the kit of nickel silver etches are a set of springs to operate the drop plates. The instructions identified some additional items needed. I used the time taken for these items to be delivered to read the instructions thoroughly, a step that being a male I apparently usually ignore! As soon as my additional purchases arrived, construction could begin.

First, I used taper reamers to open out the holes in the side plates to fit the locating tubes. Care must be taken to make sure the frame is made up totally square, particularly if fitting extra units to make up a larger frame with more levers. The consequences of not achieving this will mean that the frames will not line up accurately and will not sit square with each other. Once the frame has been made, the top plate needs to be curved. Great care must be taken over this as it’s very easy to kink the plate. I used the rolling dowel method and took my time. Annealing would probably also have helped. The top plate needs to fit the frame perfectly as it needs to be soldered edge to edge as there are no tabs fitted.

I then removed all the levers from the etch. Three are required for each lever, in sets of two outers and one inner (the one with the hook.) There is also a small cut-out at the top of each and they all need to be on one side. In a set of three clean out the two holes – one at the bottom and one at the top. These are for alignment whilst soldering and then as pivots for the hand lever; and the link shoes if the bottom hole is used, if you are using the levers in a mechanical mode to operate wire in tube/interlocking etc. The lever etches need to be very well clamped during soldering on the edges; the solder should leach through. They were then cleaned up, making the edges square and removing the two locating pins. I had purchased the steel handles so, for fitting, I drilled them slightly with a 1mm drill (only about 2mm deep.) The top nib of the lever was filed to give a tight fit and they were then glued using epoxy at the end of the lever frame assembly.

The drop boxes were folded around the levers and soldered square and true. It then took some time getting them to drop down under their own weight. This involved filing of the lever and the inside the edges of the drop box. I drilled the handle pivot holes at the same time as I drilled the lever, to ensure that the handle would move freely on the lever. The lifting rod was drilled in place on the lever, to ensure full movement. I tried to fit the levers but found them to be a very tight fit in the top plate. Again, careful filing resolved this issue. Once the levers fitted the plate, the lever spacer tubes were cut but it was essential to measure accurately. The levers need to be upright and square to the top plate, in order to slide easily in their slots.

I dropped the drop boxes onto the levers so that they fitted into their respective slots (some filing was needed.) A small hook was bent onto the lower end of the lifting rod. After this the whole handle and lifting rod was fitted to the lever and this assembly fitted to the top plate/frame. The spring was now fitted between the hook on the lever and the hook on the lifting rod. This was the time to make sure the handle assembly worked.

Tacking the lifting rod to the drop box, when the lever is pulled the drop box it should rise out of its slot allowing the lever to move. When the handle is released it should drop into its slot as the handle is moved. Some adjustment was needed to achieve this.

At this point I made sure that everything worked correctly because, once you solder-fit the lever numbering plates the drop boxes cannot be removed! The numbering matched my mimic panel signals and points. The steel handles were then fitted using two-part epoxy and a little filing to give a tight fit (although it may have been easier to consider filing earlier in the construction.) I also needed to adjust the lever handles marginally, to give the correct amount of lift for the drop boxes after the steel handles had been fitted.

As I use a MERG system of control with microswitches, I then had to fit these to the lever frame. The switches are lever type with a roller actuator at the end and, as I only needed an on/off action, a single-pole switch was suitable. Again, cutting the tubes accurately is important, so that the roller bears onto the lever. Putting the last switch in with its spacers is very fiddly. It is recommended in the instructions that the same rod is pushed all the way through multiple frames, to lock them all together. The disadvantage of this is if you have a fault halfway through, a lot of levers and/or switches have to be removed and then replaced (which could prove interesting!) I think it is up to individual preference as to which is more suitable for your own use.

Four little foot etches are supplied for you to use as necessary. I used all of them to give extra strength and a single unit can be removed. At this point I realised I had not primed the levers for painting, so I had to take it apart again to complete this work. So an experiment in making up a small lever frame of five levers to see how they worked and if they would be suitable for my needs, turned into a full frame of 20 levers for use in my own layout, Marchants Cross, currently in the early stages of building but with locos running.) The question would be whether I would make a frame again. It proved a bit daunting to start with but, after trial and error, I was able to produce a fully working 20-lever frame that was, despite the lessons learned along the way, a joy to build and a pleasure to operate. The task now is to incorporate it into my control panel.

I must thank the members of the Plymouth Gauge O Group for support, especially Chris Bellett for numbering all my points and signals prototypically so all the number plates would be correct for my mimic panel.