wiring a diamond crossing

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Hi Guys,

I've had a look at previous messages & couldn't see anything specifically related to this - maybe there is but I couldn't see it, if so appologies.

I'm in the process of scratchbuilding a HO scale diamond crossing for my layout. Question I have is if I isolate the frogs that have a clash of polarity, how do I / do I need to, power those isolated frogs so that the locos won't stall when going over the frog. - I know that for a set of points / switch, that the polarity can be switched when I move the points (microswitch etc), but am unsure how, or whether I need to, to do the same for the diamond crossing.

Ta Alex...

-- alexander nadalini (alexandleigh@ozemail.com.au), January 15, 2004

Answers

It certainly depends on the length/width of the dead frog and the span of the power pick-up axles on your locos. Many commercial crossings have dead frogs. You will probably need to power the small section of rail between the frog points. If you chose to power the points, isolate all 4 of them from all other rails and wire them up in pairs through a DCC auto-reverser to main track power.

-- Don Vollrath (dvollrath@magnetek.com), January 15, 2004.

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