O-line Reproduction Switches

They work very well, but like any switch, they have their quirks:

1: If you have any cars or locos with electric couplers, they are likely to be activated when the shoe rides over the center rail. You can solve this with a small piece of electrical tape in the right spot. 

2: The Right-hand O72 switches have a flaw, causing a short when anything with a pickup roller goes through it. Again, it's an easy fix with a piece of electrical tape on the curved-lead rail, just before the frog. When the switches were made, there should've been a small gap between this rail and the frog, but there isn't, so you get a short unless you cover the curved-lead rail with tape. I don't know if this is the case with the O31s, but every O72 RH switch I've tried has this flaw. 

Other than that, I've been happy with them; switch machines and non-derailing feature have proven very reliable. I bought most of mine from Pat's Trains; one was defective and they exchanged it no problem. 

It sounds like they have some of the same issues as the K-line by Lionel versions.  

Does the rear roller on short locos like the Lionel Scale B6 drop into the space between the center rail when backing into the diverting route? The K-line by Lionel O72 switches have this issue. You need to extend the rail a bit but be careful not to make it too long or the roller touches both the center and outside rails at the same time. 

Mike

I haven't had that issue with the rollers--yet. Anything is possible with switches. I've heard a good fix for that is a wooden GarGraves tie, because it fits right in that space. There's a thread about that on here in the electrical forum. Are you looking for O72 or O31 switches?

I don't know what modifications were made on them throughout the brand changes, but all of mine have "K-Line" stamped on the bottom. 

It seems to be that with any switch, you have to work the kinks out of it to make it work the way you want. The one thing I don't like about these switches is they are all 1 unit--no separate, interchangeable switch machine. I run mostly prewar tinplate, and I found after a lot of research that these switches handle the old trains very well, as well as postwar and modern trains. My preference would've been Ross, but Steve told me his switches--even his "Rossplate" tinplate switches--aren't compatible with prewar tinplate trains. GarGraves told me the same thing about their switches, so I went with OLR / RMT. 

John

I need both O31 and O72. I never thought about a piece of wooden tie to fill the space. I run modern command engines although every now and again I like to stretch the legs of my post war. 

Mike