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Here's the highly abbreviated history: These manual ground
throws were originally developed in the early '60s or so by Fred
Baumgarten, owner of Baumgarten's Hobby Shop in Santa Bar-
bara CA and were part of his Ribbonrail line of products. The
Ribbonrail line was later picked up by another manufacturer,
but the ground throws soon went out of production and were
sold to another entity who did little with the product.
“Soon after I started Bitter Creek Models, Lee Nicholas
convinced me that I should try to bring these units back
out on the market,” said company owner Jeff Stone. “I finally
located the original tooling and stamping dies and purchased
the project from the owner. They are now back in production
and available again.”
The B-4001 compact manual ground throw
is an all-metal unit made up of a base-
plate, bellcrank, spring, throw lever and attaching rivets. The
base and bellcrank are stamped out of sheet steel and the
throw lever is stamped from brass sheet. There is no provision
for electrical power routing. All parts are made in the USA, with
the stampings done by a company in Clearfield UT. Stone fin-
ishes forming the basic stampings, then assembles the ground
throws, paints them, and packages them at his shop in Afton
WY. One pair sells for $9.95. The package includes two ground
throws, formed linkage wires, four mounting screws, and an
instruction sheet.
The maximum points throw of the unit is approximately 3/8".
In addition to use with HO turnouts, they have been success-
fully used with O and N scale turnouts. The over-center design
and spring provide sufficient tension on the bellcrank to keep
the switch points tight against the stock rails, with the solid
positive contact between the rail segments solving a lot of
First Look: Bitter Creek Ground Throw - 2
power routing problems caused by loose point contact.
The unit has a very low profile and can be mounted up close
to the turnout but not interfere with locomotive footboards or
car steps. The low profile allows them to be blended into the
surrounding scenery, and they can be set up for either right- or
left-hand operation.
The all-metal ground throw is a very durable unit and will with-
stand many years of operation without failure. Nicholas has
had some of his from a previous manufacturer in service for
over 30 years and they are still going strong. Three finally did
fail; two wore out the lever rivet and one broke a spring. Stone
repaired all three and now they are back in service.
The Bitter Creek Models product line also includes cast white
metal detail parts and HO and HOn3 freight car and passenger
trucks of interest to modelers of the 1860 to 1910 era. Many
of the detail parts have a heritage that dates back to the days
of Red Ball and Binkley craftsman kits. “I am in the process of
bringing out a line of car kits, again for the early rail era mod-
eler as well as adding new trucks and detail parts to the line,”
Stone said.
For more information, click
, or email at
Their mailing address and
phone number is:
Bitter Creek Models
PO Box 1601
Afton, WY
307-886-0703
MRH-Mar 2013
