Got the track!

The post man arrived after lunch today containing my order of track from Tom's. Thankfully I was having a day off work so I was able to get straight into laying it. The 2 pictures below are the afternoons progress. Plus I have added how to make points Dcc friendly.

The view from the terminus.

The opposite end.

Now I am not sure how many of you are aware how to make a point DCC friendly so I thought I would show you the process I am using. It is not my creation but something I found on the Internet and I thought I would pass it on. This is only relevant if you are using electro frog points. The points I am using are Peco.

Firstly you need to remove these jumper wires, indicated by the arrows. This isolates the frog area from the rest of the rails.

This can be done with a screw driver inserted into the gap, then twisted. The little jumpers just crack off.

One jumper has been removed. Remember to do both before installing your point.

Peco have kindly cut and insulated the rails for you. (The jumpers connected these two rails underneath)

They have also been kind enough to provide a small wire which joins all the rails in the frog area. You just need to extend this wire and install it into a single throw switch. It will need to be connected as to provide the correct polarity to the frog area depending on the position of the point.

The above schematic shows the wiring diagram to the frogs when the point is thrown. (click on the picture to read the text) I realise that I have coloured the bottom throw rail black when it should be red, only the frog changes colour/polarity, see next diagram.

The point thrown in the opposite direction. Note the polarity change on the frog.

You also need to connect the two rails on the either side of the point to give the throw rails the same polarity as the rails they are thrown against.

Hope this is of help.