Mr. Broskowitz was kind enough to call me and patiently walk me through the wiring considerations – thanks Barry. Then reviewed this thread, my notes from my call with Barry and the underside of the Atlas turnout for a while. Think it finally sank in. For other novices struggling with this, I think it basically breaks down like this:
- The three center rail legs on a turnout are electrically connected only by the jumper wires (long wire between lead center rail leg and the straight center rail leg in the Y; and the short cross-over wire between the two center rail legs in the Y – collectively, “jumper wires" ). Remove these two wires and all three legs are electrically isolated from each other.
- Atlas obviously believes the turnout wire gauge is sufficient. From various real-life experiences posted here and elsewhere, however, many hobbyists feel this isn’t necessarily the case. Therefore, many hobbyists decide to do one of two things: (a) replace the wires with more robust wire; or (b) the more common approach is to power the turnout from all three sides. But powering the turnout from all three sides will run afoul of the DCS “one drop per block” philosophy (unless two of those drops are getting power from a source NOT running to the TIU). Basically, to adhere to the DCS philosophy you must do one of two things:
(a) for a two block scenario, either (i) replace both “jumper wires” (with more robust wires), put a plastic track connector on the leg going to the “other” track block; or (ii) alternatively, just replace the one “jumper wire” (with a more robust wire) for the two turnout legs in the same block and simply remove the short cross-over “jumper wire” between the two Y center rails (and DON'T use the plastic track joiner, given the electrically isolated leg must rely on power from the "other block"). In either case, this will electrically isolate one block from the other. And then you simply rely on the TIU power drop and the more robust “jumper wire(s)” to power everything.
(b) For a three block scenario, remove both “jumper wires” and you have three electrically isolated legs that would be powered by each track block’s discrete TIU power drop.
Having said that, I am curious what your actual experience is when you don’t adhere to the DCS “one drop per block” philosophy and don’t use filters and other gizmos? Basically those who might star pattern but use three drops for each turnout, or route two of the turnout power drops to an alternate power source, or buss wire and put power drops every so many feet, etc.
Peter
