To Gap or not to gap/T.O. wiring

[Anonymous]

O.K. folks should I gap the rails or solder the rail joiners to the rails therefore soldering the rails together? Using Micro engineering track and turnouts. With the t.o. is there any special wiring involved using DCC. Any direction is helpful thanks........

[Anonymous]

Hello racrac,

Micro-Engineering turnouts are selective routing, and you'll need to cut past past the point of the frog to avoid short circuits. You'll then need to solder a jumper wire to the frog and feed power to it through the contacts of a switch machine, either manual or electric motor.

I recommend cutting the gaps after soldering the rail joints.

Paul Schmidt

[ronsmith]

Racrac,
You do not have to solder at all, just isolate frogs and run track feeders to each section of track and switches.

[Anonymous]

racrac,
When I lived in N.central FL. I built a railroad in a un-airconditioned garage that saw a range of temps from 40-100 degrees. I didn't solder the joiners but I did solder a jumper wire shaped like a U across the joint. It allowed for expansion and contraction plus good flow of electricity. I think it came from John Olson's book on building the Jerome & Southwestern. If large changes in temps are not a concern I still wouldn't solder the joiners but would feed power to each section of track from a main pair of wires running under the entire line. I think the main pair of wires is called the bus line. Good luck.

[Sperandeo]

As Paul Schmidt noted, the Micro Engineering turnouts require that you have to follow the usual DC two-rail wiring rules. Simply stated, those are 1) make sure every turnout is fed from the point end (or through the stock rails) and 2) to insulate (with gaps or plastic joiners) any time turnouts are arranged frog to frog. For a more detailed explanation see Chapter three of my book, "Easy Model Railroad Wiring."

The Micro Engineering turnouts don't need any special wiring beyond that when used with DCC, but you may wi***o do a little more. I'd recommend using gaps just beyond the frog in both frog rails so you can install feeders beyond the turnout (remember rule 1). You'll get the most reliable DCC operation if you don't rely on the turnout points to feed current, at least not for very far.

Along with that, you may wi***o modify your turnouts as shown in fig. 3-12 of "Easy Model Railroad Wiring," so you're not using the points to feed current at all. "Upgrading Micro Engineering turnouts," by Charlie Comstock, in the September 2000 MODEL RAILROADER, page 62, shows how to do it.

Good luck,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine