In advance thank you. I have already received quite a bit of help from these forums.
For simplicitys sake I will describe my layout as 2 ovals, interchanging trough a Walthers DCC Friendly double crossover. I am for the first time setting up CAB wiring.
With only the outer oval complete, as many here in these forums have noted, when the DBL X-over is only getting power on the outer tracks there is a fairly large dead spot. From the Book on Model Railroad wiring by Mr. Sperandeo, and studying the jumpers on the bottom of the track, I figured out both (inner and outer oval) tracks on the same side need to have power to alleviate the dead spot. Now the only area without power are the insulated frogs, (I think I am using the term correctly) so far so good.
What is stumping me is how this plays into CAB wiring. It would seem that the x-over needs to be a block unto itself. Which would mean depending on how the switch is thrown the entire x-over (the straight through route for both the inner and outer oval) would be under the controll of one throttle, fine if I am going to crossover, but troublesome if two loco’s are operating, one on each oval, both continuing straight through.
As a newbie I know there is something I am not seeing - please help me understand what it is.
I get the impression that you are over thinking this… Slow down a minute and you’ll see that you already have your answer… The idea of cab control is to keep the same power supply with a train as it travels the layout. So, if that means that the crossover has to be wired as a block then have at it.
I would think that the inner and outer tracks of the crossover can be wored separately, so that there can be a train on each at the same time, but I don’t know how the crossover is wired.
Thank you for your reply, and I am sure you are right. Leave it to a rookie though to leave out information. I would have no problem switching the block to the correct throttle. I think I am approaching this from the perspective of opearting with my son who is too young to truly understand the CAB arrangement. What I was trying to do is have a setup such that when he is operating an engine I could throw all of that oval’s cab switches to one throttle and let him go. (as if it were not wired with CAB blocks)
I guess as you point out the answer is for me to pay attention, and until he is old enough I will have to move the switch for my train, and then move it back as soon as I am clear.
With DPDT Center Off switches do most operators leave areas they are not moving through off? And only take controll of a block just before their train enters it switching back to off as soon as they are clear?
An inexpensive, simple DCC system might be a good fit for you. It won’t cost a lot more than the extra switches and wiring, although I can’t lie, the $15-$20 extra per engine will be annoying. But the operation is so much simpler, and the wiring is a snap.
As far as your question, I expect that the way you talked of operatin gis correct, but with the DPDT switches you are limited to two cabs. Of course anything more becomes correspondingly more complicated.
I still don’t think the crossover should need to be wired as a single block. I’ll have to do a little looking…
Thansk for all of your help. I wanted to reply so you dont go to too much trouble looking for an answer. After nootling with the wiring book, the double x-over, and my meter, It looks like I have figured it out.
All of that being said, your suggestion on DCC was right on the money, prompted by your comment I started to do some research and discovered I had some really bad assumptions as to what DCC was all about. More learning on my part is required, but it looks like that is the way to go.
For anyone who stumbles onto this posting trying to make sense of the Walthers DCC friendly double Crossover, the solution looks like this:
(+)-----------------------------------------------------------
(-) -----------------------------------------------------------(-)
X
[+] __________________________________[+]
[-] __________________________________
For simplicitys sake the cross over tracks are represented by the ‘X’. The outer rails on both straight routes are not interrupted by an insulated area. The inner rails are, hence the power feed at both ends. Jumpers underneath the ties keep power flowing through all appropriate x-over rails, while the frogs remain insulated preventing shorts. For CAB Controll, the terminals in parenthsis () route to one DPDT switch, and the terminals in brackets route to another. This will allow two trains to run parallel across the track section controlled by seperate power packs. Obviously, to use a cross over track, both switches have to be thrown to the same power pack to maintain controll of the train.
If I dont go with DCC I will have to splice the appropriate wire leaving the DPDT switch in order to get two terminals to connect to the rails at opposite ends where indicated.
Remember I am a real neophite with this kind of wir
This is good advise. With DCC you would not any problems wiring this. I would check continuity from rail to rail. In other words is the current able to pass from the top (+) rail on one loop to the top rail with all the different possible switch possitions. If it is, then the switch should be wired as a seperate block. If not, then the switch is not power routing or only power routing when the crossing from one loop to the other, in which case you do not need to do any seperate wiring for the switch.