Hiding Surface Mount Point Motors
Hiding Surface Mount Point Motors
Point motors come in various sizes & shapes & can be mounted in a variety of ways, such as under the baseboard or on the baseboard surface. Ideally to keep things looking neat & tidy, where possible mount the point motor under the baseboard. In so cases it may not be possible to do so due to lack of space or the baseboard frame work being in the way.
Side mount type point motors are usually quite low in profile & can are easily hidden with scenic items such as foliage, bushes, ballast (but keep the ballast clear of the moving parts of the point motor), under a platform or behind a low wall providing you leave enough clearance. In the photo gallery below are five popular examples, these are by Peco, Hornby, Gaugemaster, DCC Concepts. There are also a number of other manufactures that also make low profile side mount point motors.
The traditional type of surface mount point motor has been a round many decades & still is very popular today. This type usually sits in an mounting plate which has a sliding bar that hooks on to the moving point tie bar. The rod that is on the centre of the point motor sliding solenoid bar, fits into a hole located in the end of a moving bar on the mounting plate. The likes of Hornby & Peco amongst others produce these point motor mounting plates. Below can be seen two such examples. The top one is by Peco & the lower one with the hut is by Hornby. Both come with an extending bar which allows one to locate the point motor further a way from the track.
Using the extending bar allows the point motor to be set further back behind a wall, a track side building, under a platform or behind an embankment. You’ll to make a hole in the wall etc, just big enough for the extending bar to fit through. Allow enough room for the bar to be able to move.
As you’ll notice below that the Hornby point motor mounting plate comes with a line side hut to hide the point motor. The hut simply clips into place thus can be easily removed if access is needed for maintenance to the point motor.
Using the Sub Station Kit
One of our customers took the Hornby line side idea a stage further by using our download substation kit (available in the club shop here on Railwaymodellers.com). The point motor used is the Peco PL-10 with the top mounted Peco PL-13 accessory switch, mounted on the Peco PL-12 mounting/adaptor plate.
In the photo right the point motor has been installed & connected to the point switch bar. Note: Due to the track being raised upon ballast, the PL-12 mounting plate has be mounted on to an additional PL-12 plate to raise the height of the point motor. Thus keeping the extending bar at the same height as the point switch bar.
The substation kit in question is this one seen here on the right. The ground texture sheet that is included in the kit for mounting the building on, needs to be cut so that it’ll fit around the point motor mounting plate.
Assemble the substation building as per the kit instructions. As seen in the photo right, cut a small square hole in the rear/side wall. Leave enough room for the sliding mounting bar to be able to move freely. Test fit the building over the point motor & make sure the point can be operated okay. If all okay, remove the building & glue the ground texture sheet into place around the point mounting plate.
Replace the building over the point motor, but leave it loose so as to allow access to the point motor if needed in the future. Glue & fix the perimeter wall into place, but don’t glue the wall to the building as the building needs to be removable.
LX032-OO LNER Concrete Lineside Hut
Another line side building that can be adapted is the LX032-OO LNER Concrete Line Side Hut:
Assemble the building as per kit instructions, however omit the hut base. This will allow the hut to sit over the top of the of the motor.
Depending on what point motor has been used & if the track sits on a raised trackbed, you may need to make some kind of a raised base around the point motor. This will allow the hut to sit over the top of the point motor with out fouling it.
In the photo right, we’ve built up a raise base around the point motor for the hut to sit on. We’ve used the waste off cuts from the LX032-OO Liner side hut kit to make the raised hut base.
In the photo right, you can see the assembled hut minus the base. This will allow the hut to sit over the top of the point motor.
As like the Electricity/Substation kit before the hut isn’t glued down but sits loose over the point motor, so easily removed for access.
The LX032-OO Lineside hut in place over the point motor. Visitors to the layout unless they look closely won’t realise what the hut is hiding inside. The LX032-OO kit builds & makes up two huts.
Happy modelling.
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