Power Routing Turnout Question.

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I have been using power routing turnouts for years on DC layouts. I’m building a new layout (also DC block powered) and now that all of the track work is done and tesing is going on I found a turnout that is not routing power as it should. Both routes are powered regardless of which side the points are switched. I can’t see anything obvious and I’m stumped as to why this is happening. Any ideas?

2

What brand of turnout?

3

No chance it’s getting power from beyond the turnout.

4

Not knowing the type of turnour you have, does it have an electrically isolated frog?

5

It’s a Peco turnout.

There are gaps in the rails beyond the turnout, power can only be coming from the point end. And yes, the frog appears to be isolated.

6

Unfortunately I have no experience with Peco turnouts; however, I’m sure someone here will be able to help you. I do know Peco has (or used to have) both Insulfrogs and Electrofrogs…Here is a diagram that might be helpful

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/switches_peco.htm

Hope this is of some help to you,

Wayne

7

I had that problem once and what I thought was an insulated rail joiner, turned out to be one that was compramised with a burr from cut track that was missed, on the bottom of course.

8

You may have hit on something there. I made my gaps with a cut-off disc on a Dremel. I’m going to check those gaps later today.

9

LION pays no attention to power routing or not power routing. Him cuts all four rails as they depart the turnout. LION uses either the contacts on the Tortoise machine to do this, or else Him uses a relay to do this. Sometimes it takes some neat logic to make an interlocking plant work nicely.

LION has here a two track mane lion with four tracks (crossing over a double slip switch) to bring trains into the termianl platforms. This uses six switch machines.

Here is what him builded…

You can see five horizontal rows of representing the switch machines.

The numbered row vertically on the right, and across the bottom are the rails involved.

The wiring logic is all contained on this board, and I need not go under the table (not possible anyway). You can see the bare wire on pin 2 which is ground. The wires to pin one come from the interlocking plant and go to the turtle. The switches are in two groups of three, the color of the wire lets me know how to wire the switches.

ROAR