Can some one please quickly as possible tell me where the insulating joiners would go for this?  i know its basic but im not sure.

On both rails where the crossover points meet.

If you also have power feeds further along on each of the straight tracks beyond the points, then you might need IRJs on the inner rails of the straight-on paths out of the points.

Like this ? 


The red lines are the insulated joiners. Yes there are feeders on the straight parts before the actual turnout.

Hard to say where they should go without seeing the rest of the layout/track-plan.

The four you've shown in red above will work but only if there's another feed to the right of the top track and to the left of the bottom track. This could be another feed from the controller or just a complete loop of track.

As a rule of thumb you need insulating joiners to prevent power being fed from the two track end of the turnout/points on the middle two rails which meet at the frog. Where they go isn't important - they can be on the actual point or further along the track several feet/meters away.

Steven B

I was tempted to amend the Thread title but think it's more fun as it stands.
Let any Mod know if you do want it changing, though

does this help understand track plans?

lol just realized the title... my bad...

Don't worry about it too much.

My question is, are those two parallel tracks on different controllers?

We really need the full plan.

This is the track rough track plan just to show u where al my turn outs are. I am worrying at moment because glues drying and i need to know.



I dont know if they are on different controllers or what that means. Im using one NCE controller.

So based on that track plan, am i correct with the other photo where i show where i put the IRJ, is that the correct placement.

Yes, the two rails leading to the frog on each point, so the middle 4 joiners of the crossover need to be insulating ones.

Yes, the safest way is to isolate all 4 frog V rails in this situation.

On a crossover the rails always need to have IRJs. 

The straight route V rails need IRJs if there is a power feed further along the rail. You can get away without them if the track beyond the frog is a simple dead-end siding with no power feed. 

If the point is part of an oval the power can come round the other way so you need an IRJ.

Godbless you all. Thank you.


LAST QUESTION. I did the hole in the wrong spot for the wire that goes from the bottom of turnout frog through baseboard. So i instead cut some of the track bed out so the wire/solder is embeded in to the foam trackbed making contact with that and the wood underneath, and then the rest of the wire goes through the hole which is a bit far off. So my question is is that ok, because i cant get a drill easily at moment,,

As long as there is good electrical contact, and the track is level, it should be fine.

Yes the track is level, that's why i had to cut some of it out, i guess it's a stupid question because my other feeders are all touching the foam and wood some what, but this one missed the hole by a long shot so dont why i think it would be different.

I suppose alot of people do actually have feeders going off to the side rather then straight down through the hole?.

Quote from: Grassyfield on July 17, 2024, 11:18:25 AMI suppose alot of people do actually have feeders going off to the side rather then straight down through the hole?.

I'd recommend feeds being soldered to the sides of rails rather than the base as they're easier to replace should something come adrift