I have installed a 362 Barrel Loader beside a Gargraves yard track. The loader is wired to a ZW transformer whose sole function is the powering of accessories....lights, switch motors (Z1000's), active accessories, etc..
I plan to use the Barrel Car, also, in conjunction with this accessory. I well understand that the car must be moved to the left end of the loader for unloading barrels from the car, and to the right end for receiving barrels from the loader. I also understand that operation of the car is through 4th or 5th rails contacting one of the sliding truck shoes...BUT NOT BOTH SHOES at the same time. So, I created two 4" rails installed centered on the loader to function as these 4th/5th activation rails.
However, this leaves me with a problem and a question.
The yard trackage (In fact all of the layout's track) is controlled using 270-watt MRC Pure Power Dual transformers. I do not want to wire these activation rails for the barrel car to track power. I would like to wire them to the ZW where I can optimize the barrel car's operating voltage independent of other train operation on the layout. The outer rails of the Gargraves track are wired to the MRC Common.
So, is it possible to connect the MRC and ZW commons together so that I can utilize one of the ZW channels to power the 4th/5th rails? (I will assume this requires assurance that the two transformers are phased properly.)
And, might doing so result in any weird (for lack of a better word...) interactions between the two domains....such as accessory lighting (ZW) becoming unsteady as a result of train operation (MRC)?
One alternative suggestion given me was to isolate a 4" length of one of the Gargrave track's outer rails adjacent to the installed 4th/5th rails, and simply connect that short rail to the ZW ground...but connecting all 3 of those 4" rails to a DPST momentary button, so that the ground rail would not be in play when a train is run through that siding under control of the MRC transformer.
Was my explanation clear enough? If not, let me know what I've missed.
Thanks for any help. Lots of info out there for utilizing different channels for train and accessory controls of a common transformer, such as the ZW, but couldn't find anything that referenced the use of separate transformers.
KD
