I noticed at a train show a few weeks ago a different (at least to me) way to attach feeders to the turnout. Rather than solder feeders at the joiners, they are soldered at the rails in the middle of the turnout. Seems like a good way to do it so the joiners don’t need to be soldered which makes replacing the turnout easier if needed.
I tried to ask the club member about it, but he was so pre-occupied running his train, he didn’t want to be bothered by my curiosity.
In your image, the frog is apparently isolated from the rails on both ends of it…so that is good. Therefore, the arrowed location of feeders is just fine. The only occasional, and temporary, hitch should come when an axle passes between the closest juxtaposition of the closure rails (the ones with the arrows) and connects both polarities by touching both rails at the same time because its wheel pair is two close together.
By soldering where you have placed the red arrows, the turnout will be less dependant on the movable points supplying power to those sections of the rail.
FEED ‘Turnouts from the points’ - (actually is from the two outside ‘stock’ rails).
POINT RAILS need reliable power - too often fed by metal/metal contact with stock rails. rivets, or metal railjoiners at the hinges. BEST to to run auxillary jumpers.
Specifics:
BEST POWER ROUTING turnouts have solid (non-hinged) point/closure rails & Hot frogs. Inner ‘frog’ rails should have insulatrd rail joiners to prevent short circuits.
DCC’ FRIENDLY’ turnouts have installed jumpers connecting stock rails with correct inner rails to pass on power past ‘dead’ frogs. Length of insulated ‘dead’ frogs can stall engines with short wheel base and some with limited electrical pickup.
No, you are correct. It is just that with the “longer” turnouts, the higher numbered ones, the closure and frog rails are close to each other nearest the frogs for a longer distance, and that tends to permit shorts with axles out of gauge. This is particularly true with the Walthers/Shinohara and the Peco Streamline Code 83 turnouts with which I am familiar…straight #6 and up in the latter’s case, and curved #7.5 and #8’s in the former. So, since these manufacturers power the points rails up to the gaps, the lead gaps coming from the points end, I will often get a short unless I cut new gaps further out from both gaps already there, or unless I go to the trouble of painting the rail tops for about the same distance. Painting bites, so I cut gaps, and don’t have to give it another thought.
However, as per your diagram, that is about where I would solder jumpers. I think Don is saying that you might eventually also have to jumper around the oxidation that will occur over time at the tiny joiners where the points and closure rails meet.
