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While I wait for my Unitrack to arrive, I've started planning the wiring. I'm hoping someone can help with the turnouts. Please forgive me, I'm new to the hobby and I'm still learning. I'm wiring it for DCC, and I'll be using Digitrax. I'll be using occupancy detection, also Digitrax. In my track plan, each coloured section is a detection block. The purple lines show where I intend to power the tracks with terminal unijoiners (power to each detection block not shown). I intend to control the layout with TrainController. My understanding is that I do not need to isolate my turnouts (Kato #4), as long as I set them to non-power routing, with the frog set to insulated. There seems to be some confusion online about power-routing vs. non-power routing labels but I'd be setting so them so that all rails are powered, regardless of switch position. I've isolated my turnout sections, only for the purpose of occupancy detection, with a block on either side of the turnout. I'm slightly unsure about where to connect the track power for the turnout. At each end of the turnout, I have a separate detection block, which I need to isolate from the turnout. Q. If all rails are live, and the frog insulated, could I connect the power at any end of the turnout? Then I come to the double crossover, which is what has me confused. I believe that I need to power each of the 4 ends of the crossover. However, I have blocks on either side of the crossover, so I would need to isolate the double crossover from the adjacent blocks, so where would I connect the power to the crossover? I suppose I could add a short Unitrack piece (S62) on either side, then I could connect the power at the joins between the crossover and the S62, then insulate at the join between the S62 and the next piece. Unfortunately, I'm already at the edge of the layout, so I can't afford to extend the track plan. Q. Have I understood this correctly? Do I have any other options? Is it best to keep the crossover and turnouts between blocks, or can they be in the blocks? Thanks for any advice!

Hi all, I just had my first turnout arrive in the post and the back looks nothing like any of the videos I have been watching I discovered today that I was watching HO/OO gauge. Turnout is a Peco SLE-396 Streamline Electrofrog turnout. All the wires behind the frog are attached(videos had a loose end to wire for polarity}. None of the rails are cut (they were in the videos) There does not appear to be the wire to removed that crosses the non existent gap. This has really thrown me, can anyone help, I don't want to mess my first one up before I have even started. I plan to have 2 x track 1x frog wires through table into 8 bay terminal block, going out to tortoise motors. But now I am like 'have I bought the wrong thing" it all made sense yesterday, until I opened the turnout packet. Thanks in advance

Hi everyone, I had an idea and tried it & it works, I have the Kato V13 elevated double oval and I have plenty of transformers but I'm running out of room for another transformer. So I double wired the transformer and reversed one set of wires so it runs in the opposite direction of the other track. It's kind of fun firing them up and highballing them together. Hope everyone is doing well & enjoying their Japanese trains. Sorry the picture is so dark, I forgot to turn up the lights. I really enjoy my little Shinkansen's !!

Hi, I was wondering if anyone would have a wiring diagram for use with a Kato 20-210 double crossover? I want to use it at the end of a double track line in the throat of a 2 track terminus station, so that trains can arrive and depart from either of the 2 terminal tracks, and any other trains in the other platform of the station are isolated. It's a DC operation not DCC. Thanks in advance