[^o)]building a 2x4 module n scale how can i use c55 electrofrog without wirring. want to use DCC , going to use peco so switching is manual, do i put insulated joinners on frog ends and run train or what ?. thanks for info.
At the bottom of the turnout you place the Feeder wires, if you have two peco turnouts facing each other toe(top) to toe(top) or flextrack between the turnouts you must Insulate the toe(top) ends. I’ll work on my module here in a bit and set it up to how Peco say to wire their track.
If the turnout splits one track into two stub-end spurs, no gaps required as long as the feeders power the two stock rails.
If the turnout is cut into a loop, but the diverging track is a stub-end spur, then you will need an electrical gap at the frog on the loop side only. Feeders can be anywhere on the loop, but there should be some way of making sure power gets around all un-insulated rail joints.
If the turnout is one end of a passing siding, you will have to gap both tracks somewhere between the two frogs - both rails that connect the two frogs. One trick is to put one gap at one end of the siding and the other gap at the opposite end. Then trains can enter both tracks at the same time, each switch thrown so that the train will run to the clearance point at the other end before reaching the gap. To have a train leave the siding, both sets of points will have to be thrown to the track that train is standing on. Once again, feeders can be anywhere along the stock rails or rails connected to them.
None of what I have typed is either DC or DCC specific, except the unlikelihood of running two trains in opposite directions at the same time with analog DC power. With DCC, no problem. (It can be done with analog DC as well, but not with a dirt-simple two feeder arrangement.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - analog DC, MZL system)
thanks for info, so all I have to do with a loop with a cuople of dead end sidings is to put insulated joinners on frod ends and it will be fine to run dcc ?
With several turnouts on a loop you will need to check for dead rail and add feeders just past the gaps at the heels of the frogs, or jumpers around the gaps from the diverging stock rails. Run a light locomotive around the loop. It will show you where you need feeders (Keep track of the phase!) or jumpers.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)