@Steven posted:Hi all.
again, here are my basic (yes I am sure dumb) questions this weekend. I set up a test strip of straight fast rack. I ran a train up and down the test track. All is well. Then I removed the center pins from two sections that were connected, thereby leaving no center rail not connection. I ran a train up and down again and was expecting the train to stop after it crossed the section with no center pins. The rain continued to run. I am using at CW80 for the test.
The purpose was to isolate a section of track with the purpose of using the star wire method since I intend to use DCS. I do understand the star wiring concept, running wires from a terminal block to another block @10 ft. away. Then drop wire from the track to the block. The plan is to use 3 Lionel powerhouse bricks.
The point where I am lost is isolating the sections of track. Do I need to remove the pins from both the center and ground rails in order to properly isolate the track?
I apologize for this very basic questions but challenged as you can see,thank you
First, you do not need to separate the ground (outer rails) - only the center rail.
Second, in order to isolate the track sections, you can either cut the center rail, remove the center pin and use a non-conducting material between them, as per Leo, or use the special FT 1 3/8" section that has the wire underneath by removing it, if you can fit the section into your layout. Either method should work fine, but installing the isolated FT section is generally a neater install.
Third, if you are attempting to do this in order to divide the track into isolated blocks for the purpose of running DCS, I would not do it just yet. Many layouts run fine with DCS installed w/o dividing the tracks into isolated sections. The primary purpose of dividing the track into sections when using DCS is to prevent an engine from being overloaded with commands coming from all areas of the track, resulting in poor performance, but many tracks do not experience this, so I would wait.
Fourth, just install the DCS system using the star wiring method (TIU output to a terminal block such as the MTH one pictured) and then out to different pieces of track along the layout (your "power drop connections") and see how it performs. If it runs ok, you're done. If performance is spotty, you can then cut the center rail of the track equidistant from each power drop connection and that should work fine.
