Hello, TinMan here.

What's with the rail spike? check out listing no  272946945510 and find out!

 This year we are redoubling our efforts to provide our customers with the finest quality products that is possible. This sale is an example of some of the things we will be offering.  Our switches are quite unusual after we are done with them, for example what you will get is:

·       All LED lights vs lamp bulbs, why? they will last almost forever, (especially ours because of the way we wire them and install additional components for the LED's). That plus they draw less then 10% of the current that a normal light bulb draws. Important? Very, especially if you start adding a lot of switches. I had 36 switches  on my layout and had to add a separate transformer just to run them. Our controller LED's are all oversize and while very bright, are easy on the eyes.  You will also never have an issue of heat destroying the lanterns, or damaging the controllers. Our switches now come with your choice of 2 of the traditional lever switch controllers or at no extra charge you can opt for our new electronic LED and action switch controller. Just email us that you wish to make the change. well for one reason the old style controllers are getting old, really old, and the Chinese ones are made of plastic with not really good switch components. The other reason is our new controllers take care of two switches, and are a lot more fun to use.

·       Each controller comes with a minimum of 8' of no rot vinyl cord between the controller and the switch. Need longer? No problem, just let us know

·       Each switch will come with our advanced power plugs (previously known as bootstraps) that not only provide constant accessory voltage to the switch and light circuits, but also supply an additional  center rail power tap.

·       No oil or other chemicals are used on any electrical switch contacts. Oil attract dirt and grime and eventually cause problems. We do Lubricate very carefully the gear assemblies of the switches.

·       The standard 2 bulb controller has 2 cables, one which goes to the switch screw down terminals and our advanced plug, and the other to the transformer to provide the accessory and track power.

·       All of our switches now come with a 2 year no bs warranty.

·       Effective immediately all of our switches will be shipped with our new stainless steel pins and the fiber insulators for the no de-rail feature.

So what does "reconditioned" really mean?

Obviously, we purchase our switches from a wide variety of sources, and of course every one of them is in perfect condition according to the sellers, especially from train shows. After doing this as long as we have and having reconditioned hundreds, or maybe thousands if we include the O27's. Guess what, we never even ask about the condition, because each and every one of them will go thru our complete process.

What that  means is that each and every single switch is completely stripped down, checked for proper smooth operation under a much lower power than you will use. It means the electrical contacts are cleaned and polished, and under no circumstances any chemicals of any kind are used on any electrical connection point. Yes sometimes a squirt of WD40 will make a non-working switch operate, hopefully long enough for the customer to receive delivery of the switch. The problem is oils attract dirt and grime, and often will cause the switch to malfunction, in some cases after just a very few uses. The switch contacts are sterling silver and are designed to operate without any additional lubrication.  The Electrical contacts are all checked for a tight contacts and if necessary adjusted to achieve a solid connections throughout. The incandescent bulb is replaced with a straw hat LED and associated circuitry. Note those  bulbs that you can buy to directly screw or turn into the sockets. They will not last. How do I know that, it seemed like such a good idea , we tried them, and ended up replacing several hundred, properly done.

All functions of the de-railer features are checked and double checked to insure proper operation. While the switch is apart the actual switch is hand scrubbed and finally the rails polished. The switch is then final assembled and retested again  for proper operation.

The remote controllers are completely dismantled, the bulb sockets removed and LED lights and circuitry are added to replace the light bulbs.  Why LED's??? Check out the px above. In the first you will see an original controller with one of its lights installed and a switch lantern also installed. You will notice from the meter that these 2 light bulbs draw .3 amps at 18 volts. A normal modern transformer would come very close to 20 volts which would equal 6 watts. Assuming you had 12 switches, you would therefore need 72 watts of power just to run the lights in the switches. In the 2nd photo you will notice the current is .24 milli-amps. In other words 24 switches would use less than the current of just one old style lamps. That plus those light bulbs are fast approaching a buck a piece. Your great great grandchildren will be using these same LEDs and get a lifetime of use from them before burning out, according to the manufacturers specs.

We then get rid of the 3 conductor cord, (you know the one that cracks and shorts out) and replace it with 2 cords. The shorter hooks up to the transformer the other (8' long). goes to the switch and the new bootstrap. This cord will provide the switching, as well as constant accessory power for the switch and a center rail power tap.

Our team takes a lot of pride in providing the best quality switches, transformers and track for our fellow hobbyists. That also means we cannot be the cheapest out there, and you know what we really don't care, we only want to be the best. When your great great grandchildren open up those totes in the attic/basement, I can be pretty sure, everything we sell, with a minimum amount of care will work just fine!

And that’s why we can give you a no bs 2 year 100% warrantee on everything we sell.

A word or two about the controllers. You will see in the pictures of our new custom made controller that will work perfectly with these switches. We will be having a separate listing showing the O22 switches with that controller, It is the same price, but I don't know how to do that with a single listing.

A word or two about pricing.  We are on a mission to provide no longer just as good, but better, longer lasting, and better working then new products. Recently we have purchased some very sophisticated machines for cleaning and polishing our switches and tracks. They are amazing, in that they do a terrific job without fear of removing the tin plating, but are very expensive.  All of these advancements and our commitment to the highest quality possible for our customers is not without cost.  Labor costs, equipment, supplies, purchasing of inventory ebay, internet costs,  PayPal fees all are on the rise. Bottom line? We cannot be the cheapest out there and deliver the quality that we believe our customers have come to expect from all TinMan products. I would like to believe that our great great grandchildren will appreciate that. 

Thanks for looking and remember:

You don't grow old from playing with trains, you grow old when you stop playing with trains.