switch types for block control

[Anonymous]

Help a newbie out... if we are going to do common rail for block control, which switch type do we want...

SPDT, DPDT, or??? Or do we want to use the Atlas version? why one or hte other?

The thought of not using the Atlas was to be able to put the toggles on a diagram of the layout on our control panel, although the Atlas switches seem like a nice setup (we're using kato, so we can't use the atlas switches for the turnouts, so we will have a hodgepodge on our control panel).

[Modeloldtimer]

For DC common rail control you'll need one SPST Toggle or slide switch to feed the positive rail of each block. This is the simplest wiring of a block.
However if you are using cab control, I think it best to use and the Atlas switches, then you can set up the blocks and control the direction and speed of the locomotives in each of the seperate blocks by using Two Power packs. And This is only one of the ways to get it done if using cab control.

[Seamonster]

For block control using cabs (two throttles) use SPDT CO (single pole, double throw, centre off) switches. If you make a control panel with a track diagram on it, you can put them right on the track lines on the diagram. These switches have three positions: left, centre and right (or up, centre and down, depending on how you install them). The centre position is an off position--there is not connection through the switch. If a train is not occupying a block, leave the switch in the centre position. The block then is dead, and the centre position of the switch handle tells the operators that that block is unused and they can move their train into it.

Usually, the switches are installed so that the handles swing to the left and right, and the two throttles are installed on the left and right sides of the control panel. So, when the operator on the left side wants his train to occupy a block, he flips the switch for that block to the left, and when the operator on the right side wants his train to occupy a block, he flips the switch for that block to the right. If the right operator, for instance, goes to move his train into a block and finds its handle pointing left, he knows that the other guy is occupying the block and he can't enter it with his train.

You indicated that you are using common rail, so you will be switching only the wires going to the positive rail. Attach the wire to the rail to the centre terminal of the switch, and the wires from the throttles to the two outside terminals. This is very important: with toggle switches (the kind where the handle sticks out and tips back and forth when you move it), the internal mechanism connects the centre terminal to the outside terminal which is OPPOSITE to the direction the handle is pointing. Thus, you will connect the wire from the right throttle to the LEFT terminal and the wire from the left throttle to the RIGHT terminal. A slide switch (the kind where the handle slips back and forth--it looks like the Atlas switches) connect the centre terminal to the outside terminal on the SAME side as the handle is moved to. The Atlas switches come mounted on a base with screw terminals and I believe they include a diagram showing which terminal is which, but I'm not absolutely sure. When you wire up the switches, just daisy-chain a wire between all the right terminals and at the last switch, take the wire out to the left throttle, then daisy-chain a wire between all the left terminals and at the last switch, take the wire out to the right throttle.

You can get miniature SPDT CO toggle switches that mount in a 1/4" dia. hole from Radio Shack, or any electronics distributor, or any electronics mail order company, or from a number of suppliers who advertise in MR, or from Walthers.

Hope this helps you.

[rrinker]

However, if you think that you will switch to DCC at some point, and have not already wired the railroad, you might want to forget all about common raila nd use DPDT switches for block controls. Each block has BOTH rails gapped, and you use two wires, one from each center post of the DPDT switch, to feed the track.
There's an additional advantage to this - it's a heck of a lot easier to follow how it all works. It's pretty obvious when there are two wires from the switch to the track section that it controls. It's NOT as obvious when there is only 1 wire from the toggle switch, and another wire for the other rail that goes off somewhere else under the layout.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Randy (and others),

If I do want to wire "for the future" (meaning, someday we may go to DCC), can I still use the Atlas controller/switches for block control, or do I need to go with the DPDT switches? (I don't think the Atlat switches aew DPDT?)