Lionel PW accessories with MTH Realtrax

[RRaddict]

If anyone could please provide a laymen's wiring diagram on how to wire PW Lionel accessories like block Signals, Semaphores, or crossing gates to the MTH real track using either the MTH insulated track section or a homemade insulated track section would be great.  I am not too smart when it comes to wiring up things a long the layout.  It is making me crazy as I haven't been successful hooking one item up.  The online instructions are to vague and they don't show you how to hook anything up just where to place the insulated track sections.  Any help would be great.

[lionelsoni]

For an accessory with only two terminals, like a crossing gate:

Wire one terminal of the accessory to the insulated outside rail (the "control rail") that you want to activate it.  Wire the other terminal of the accessory to the voltage supply that you want to use to power the accessory.  That power supply can be the center rail of the track.  It can also be a fixed voltage that shares a common return with the track.  If you have a suitable fixed voltage on the same transformer that powers the track, you can use that.  If you use a separate transformer to power the accessory, connect its common to the layout common (the outside rails) and connect the second terminal of the accessory to the second transformer's terminal that gives you the voltage you want.

(Ignore advice to "phase" the transformers.  It doesn't matter.)

[Penny Trains]

Most of us will buy the ready made track, but creating an insulated section of MTH RealTrax is also very easy.  Since the base is plastic, all 3 rails are naturally insulated from one another.  It's the ends you need to worry about.  I took a standard 10" RealTrax straight and turned it into an insulated section by ripping out the connectors on both the track I wanted to insulate and the tracks that adjoin it.  Keep in mind this is done on one outside rail only.  You'll need to make a small plastic shim the exact size and shape of the rail for each end.  The connectors may be gone, but the rails can and do touch.  So you'll need to break the circuit with the shims or by slightly shorteneing each end of the rail.  But don't go too far or you'll create a bump! 

I also drill two small holes in one side of the roadbed and use 2 nut to 1 bolt assemblies as generic binding post type terminals.  One is wired to the insulated outside rail and the other to the center rail.  You could skip the nuts and bolts but the wiring is the same no matter which way you go.  For more complicated accessories like semaphores with 3 terminal posts, you'll need a connection to the other outside rail as well.  The lamp needs to stay on all the time so it will get the constant track power while the solenoid that controls the arm will be activated by the insulated rail.  The metal car wheels and axles are what close the circuit and activate the accessories.  So of course, plastic wheels spoil the milk! 

Becky