HELP!! I am building a (Gasp) a good size 3 rail layout for our railroad museum here in Sioux City. So we can run my Zephyr cars (2 rail) pulled by 2 Weaver E8s, we are going to make the outer loop switchable, 2 or 3 rail depending on what is there. How would I "neuter" a Ross 175M dbl. crossover to act as a 2 rail one one side and not on the other?
Thanks for your help.
Dick
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It seems to me you will have to wire the switches for both 3 rail and two rail and switch between the two depending on what is running. The switches will be blocked from connecting rails to avoid shorts.
There may be an easier way, but my knowledge is limited. You'll just have to experiment.
If you turn the switch over take a Dremel with a cut off wheel and cut all the connecting strips in half. Once you have isolated all the rails you can wire the outer one to posative and negative. You must have wood or plastic ties.
Now wire up the center rail. With a number of toggle switches make a small control panel positioning the toggles to direct the rails to either 2 or the 3 rail position. It is quite simple. If you wish to remove all this just reconnect the connecting strips and you are back where you started. I did this on a pair of scissor crossovers but I just never hooked up a center wire so no toggle switches were needed. The entire converted 3 rail track set up was placed under my 2 rail system and the black center rail could not be seen. This then became a subway.
good luck
Dear Nate,
Thanks for the info. I will give it a try.
Dick
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