wiring fastrack turnouts

[HopperSJ]

I have a small amount of fastrack (50 pcs?) and am in the midst of building my first permanent (semi?) layout. I have only manual switches at this point but plan on replacing then with remote turnouts when I place the rest of my order in the next month or so. Unitl then I have been building my benchwork and laying down wiring. I have most of the wires laid for my blocks (I'm going conventional) and am now beginning to lay wiring for accessories. But before I lay any more wire I need some clarification:

Remote Fastrack switches (turnouts) are advertised as having "a non-derailing feature" in which "the train’s wheels automatically throw the blades to the proper position when the train travels toward the converging track." They also have the capability of runing on track power or auxiliary power. Does anyone know if the automatic throw works on auxiliary power or if it only works when the turnout is wired through track power? I think I want the turnouts wired through auxiliary so that the lights remain lit when the block is turned off, but I don't want to loose the non-derailing feature in the process.

Anyone wise to Fastrack turnouts able to help?

[sulafool]

Fastrack switches work just like 022s in that the non-derail feature is operative however you power them.
A little curious as to why you want the lites on even it the block is dead? I would think block dead/lites off is a good way to keep track of whats what...

[wrmcclellan]

Hopper,

Sula is right. Non-derailing will work with either method of powering the switch.

Sula - if the block is on the diverging leg, one would still want to the switch to operate (i.e. non-derailing) for the through leg in case the switch was not thrown properly.

Regards,
Roy

[HopperSJ]

Sula - you raise a good question. I was debating the question of whether I wanted the lights/switch to operate even when the block is dead. I don't know what the conventional way of doing it is. I just thought that as I approached a switch on an approaching block I would want to know what direction it is pointed before I turned on the block's power. I also thought it would be more prototypical to have the lights lit across the layout regardless of whether there was power on that block at that time. However, I also thought (as you noted) that it woud be a good indicator as to whether the block is powered or not. What is the conventional way of wiring turnout indicator lights in a layout?

[sulafool]

Roy makes sense; my layouts are all temporary floor setups, and fairly simple at that. My blocks are mainly sidings used to park trains, so once one is parked I set the switch to the mainline, kill the block, and don't worry about it.

Fastrack switches don't lock in place like the 022s, either. I think a regular engine might beef its way thru the wrong way regardless. When setting up my Christmas layout (first time for fastrack for me) I discovered my Docksider would make it thru the wrong way more than 60% of the time. I was powering the switches independently (turned them off for the above experiment), then later discovered they worked just as well when driven by track power. Turns out they are voltage regulated and cranking up the applied voltage doesn't make them any faster, unlike the 022s which respond to more power. The way I run my trains there is no longer any advantage (or need) to use aux power for switches.