Re: Swiching power off of un-used sidings

Ed S <eschwerkolt@...>


I am building two round houses on my layout. A lot of the stalls will be used to store locos that may not be used very often. They are just part of the scenery for now. Some will appear to actually be under repair.

So being able to turn off the power to those stalls seems like a good idea to me. Plus I hate to waste electricity. A parked DCC loco will draw a little power so why have it on. As for yards, all will be powered all the time unless I have a track just for locos.


1. I have two passenger stations with lighted passenger cars. I will turn off power to those tracks with a single DPDT toggle switch.
2. A long passenger train pulls into the passenger yard. The A:B:A unit will uncouple and move to park away from the station. A smaller hostler engine will spot the passenger cars to their proper gates. This hostler will spend most of its time parked on a loco only track with power turned off.

Wiring: either way you have to run wires to each track so there is no "additional" wiring. You are just adding a switch to the circuit.

I think the best way to power down round house tracks would be to use a rotary switch. You can then select which stall you want powered.

In the case of the round house you would run a feeder from you DCC buss to the rotary switch, then feeders from the switch to each bay. Label the bays and the rotary switch to match. You would have one empty position on the rotary so all bays would be off. The turntable track would always be powered.

I have two articles on the subject if you are interested I can e-mail them to you.

Pros: no shorts if you bump and derail an engine in the round house, steam engines with smoke will stop smoking

Cons: none

Ed S

At 12:21 AM 3/23/2014, you wrote:

Someone told me it was a good idea to put a switch on non frequently used sidings and track areas areas like round houses where locomotives not in use would be just sitting parked on live tracks.
Although this does make sense, additional wiring will be required, Sub bus may have to be created, etc.
Has anyone done this? Or what may be the Pro's & Cons?

Chuck Stiles

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