Hi all, as some of you know I was asking some DCC questions awhile back and thought I may be going DCC from the start. Long story short, I ended up having more plans than money, 'nuff said. So I am using DC for now. I still plan to one day go DCC, but that could be 6 weeks or 6 years so I have a DC question. I am using Unitrack on my 38x94 layout and have all Unitrack #6 power routing turnouts. I had originally planned to use the power routing to store trains on sidings but something has come up and here it goes... OK, I want to have a feeder going to every piece of unitrack (making my own) or as many as I can so that I will be set up nice for future DCC, and also for reliability. BUT.... For example, on my passing siding I have about 3.5 feet of track between the turnouts so even though I have a feeder before each turnout on the passing siding That makes about 50" of track that has no feeder and since it's a passing siding it's more less doubled. Now, I see no slowing of my trains going through there, but long term I don't like it. I want to tell you what I have in mind and see what you would recommend. I thought maybe I could do what I guess you guys call common rail and put a insulated unijoiner on one rail of both legs on the double end of each of those 2 turnouts. Then wire in a SPDT to be able to power either "lane" of the passing siding. Basically bypassing the power routing feature. I figured that way I could atleast get power in there in one spot and essentially cut that 50" no feeder run in half. Is there some reason this won't work, or a better way I'm overlooking? Open to all suggestions. Thanks, Elwood
Hi Elwood, If I understand it, your idea will work, but I would put feeders to both rails on both tracks, so if the power routing feature (not sure how that works with Unitrak) of the turnouts degrades in the future you won't notice any problems. As you planed you can insulate both ends of one rail on each track (just make sure it is the same rail on each track), or both rails at both ends on each track (this would require the feeders as stated above), I would insulate both rails as personal preference. When changing to DCC you will most likely want to remove the spdt switch unless you want or need to kill the power to either track. I hope this helps at least some. Gary
Thanks! That is actually what I meant, putting a 2 wires to each track. I went back and I reread my question after I typed it and I honestly didn't expect anyone to know what I was talking about, because I didn't! Like you suggested I would probably pull that switch out of there if/when I go with DCC. So 2 rails of the passing siding would get a feeder straight from the bus, and the other 2 would have a switch wired inbetween them and the bus, correct? Thanks again, Elwood
Hi Elwood, Based on your first post and my reply I put together a crude drawing on how the wiring would be. The first page uses a SPDT switch. The second page uses a DPDT switch FYI When you change to DCC you do not need to remove the insulators just the switch. Gary
