Sometimes it is hard to install a Tortoise under a turnout. Either the benchwork under the track interferes with the Tortoise placement, or it is too close to the edge. Circuitron (the manufacturer of the Tortoise turnout controller) makes a "remote mounting" kit, but that adds at least another $10 to the cost. Before trying that solution, I always check to see if mounting the Tortoise above the layout's surface is an option. On the P & C Railroad Version 2 I had two such situations. The two turnouts were very close to the back edge of the layout.

In the first photo below, the area near the back edge of the layout will be receiving a turnout. The previous straight track was already pulled up. I used blue insulation foam for that layout. I used a foam cutter to hollow out a groove in the surface of the layout. I didn't want to pull up the other two tracks, so the tool worked great for hollowing out under that track. Several passes were required to build the groove.



In the photo above you can see two plastic tubes. I believe I bought those at a crafts store, such as Hobby Lobby. The idea is to have a rod move back and forth inside the hollow tube. The tube guides the rod. The rod will be connected to the Tortoise on one end and the turnout on the other. The photo below shows the tube installed under the other track.



After installing the Tortoise in the desired location, the hardest part is determining the correct length of the rod that connects the Tortoise to the turnout. Some measuring and a bit of trial-and-error is required. The photo below shows the rod installed (in the second location, which is why the tube is red instead of green in the photos above).





Once installed and tweaked, the Tortoises worked great. Obviously, the key to making this whole thing realistic is some way of hiding the Tortoise. The larger the scale you model, the easier it is to hide the unit. I had several multi-story N-scale apartment buildings that were going to be a part of a town that I was modeling in that layout. The buildings were a perfect fit for the Tortoises. They slipped over them without modification. Because the rod slides back and forth inside the tube, it is perfectly fine to cover the tube with plaster, Sculptamold, or other scenery cover to hide it. When the whole thing was done, a visitor couldn't tell that the turnout was thrown from within the apartment building!