That's a nice image you created of your track - can I ask you what you used for it?  Does it have Bachmann standard tracks in it?

Thank you there is a wealth of data here which I hope helps others too

Frogs are a dual-edged sword - they are good for short wheel bases (though a little more speed going through a switch can carry the engine) but you can have the potential to generate shorts via user error.

If you nudge the engine when it is stuck on the switch does it pass through and then continue on by itself or is it totally dead on the other side of the switch? (might have a loose wire, etc. so describing the behaviour can help with narrowing down where the power issue is)

If you pick up the engine and put it on the inner loop, then throw the switch to route power to that inner loop, does the train move?  Headlight come on or no power at all?

Thanks (again) Joe.

I had hoped not to isolate the two but have gone that route (you convinced me).  I have two of these #6 crossovers ( a Left and a Right).

After cutting the center rails on both crossovers, interestingly, one of the two crossovers is no longer power conductive through the central section - the other crossover complex is still conducting. 

I put in a second set of micro cuts and verified that those rails are not conducting so now I will have to dig into how the foil works and the lines, etc.  Thanks also for the link, I am trying to puzzle through that now.  It is not clear what needs to get disconnected (the description is somewhat arcane) but I have hope.

Thank you.  I have two crossovers - I did this for both of them.  One is now two separate switches - the other continues to feed power and I assume I will have to play with the foil.

I created a separate thread for this as I realized I have hijacked yours (sorry).

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php?topic=12090

My track layout is done other than one detail and that is I need to make the #6 crossovers power routing (or - worst case - cut the rail/joiner at the correct spot so that I can use a power routing switch further back to do it - though clumsily as I'd have to throw that switch when the engine got halfway across YUCK)

The turnouts are power routing but the crossovers are not - I need to make it power routing in order to use it as parallel tracks.

Can anyone assist - does anyone know how to convert it?

I found out the answer is "yes" by reading reviews of people selling them on eBay - strange that these are not also listed in the N product/sales section here and that the name isn't HO/N EZ Track Green 10' Control Wire?

I have been carefully splicing all my own green lines for the switches but stumbled across the "HO Scale EZ Track Green 10' Control Wire".  Now, I'm guessing that the wires are the same for both HO and N (I can't see why they'd increase the size??)

Can anyone confirm that these extensions work with Bachmann's N scale turnouts also?

i.e. can I buy this and extend my N-scale switches?  http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=205

Quote from: scrooge on January 20, 2010, 05:13:46 PM
The crossovers I have did not have breaks in the cross rail, so I had to create my own by cutting the rail so as to isolate each oval.  You will need two crossovers to complete the change from one oval to the other.  I also found that one half of one of my crossovers did not work properly and no matter what I did to get it to work without success.  What I did in the end to create a crossover was to use 2 switches with an isolator at the join. Good luck

Could I trouble you for some information on where you made the cut?  I am looking to do the same thing so that I can use the crossovers to electrical isolate/activate the power as if it were two switches.

Thanks very much skipgear / Joe, you gave me the information I was after:  that I can't buy an answer   So I invented my own.

I ended up solving it sufficiently to do what I was after, I will post a pic of the layout as time allows since this may be useful to someone else.  I've got one piece of non-Bachmann track in place - a solitary bit of Flex for a parallel into a station housethe rest is Bachmann (though I ran out of 11.25" curves and swapped in 3 Atlas ones for now but will pick up 3 as that will be inside a mountain and I'd prefer to lock).  I needed one adapter piece but I just cut a piece of 30" down to the precise size I needed, re-threaded the rail after sanding down the ends and bingo. 

Now I am looking to see how to change the crossovers so they are not dual power feeding but that the switch can be a power route.

I suspect this may be a fairly complicated layout using straight EZ-Track, so the pic is likely to be useful to Bachmann as an example of things achievable with just EZ-Track.

I have the same I think (came in the Empire Builder set?)

Mine wouldn't go at all.  I manually (carefully) rolled the gears and found they were jammed to the left and eased them to center.

That let it move on its own but the motor would spin, I unscrewed it and found the inside case was screwed in too tight and loosened it just a little - then it worked.

Btw, the front and back floater wheels derail the train on standard EZ-Track I have found, even though it shipped with 11.25" radius it might be that it can only work reliably on 19"?  I ended up so frustrated I unscrewed those both off.  Now it runs but shimmies slightly (wobbles).

I read some posts on the #6 Crossover (Thanks for the information, I had determined yesterday that this crossover was not power isolating and now I will be making it so).

I am looking to use a #6 for a passenger station line but trying to run a single track into it (so there is a passing side/split near a branch line that is used for a passenger station).

I am trying to find a way to do a small parallel line from a single line - the remote turnouts are much too divergent in path to allow it.  I am trying to run a single track into it (so there is a passing side/split near a branch line that is used for a passenger station).

I am looking for a way to do a small parallel line from a single line - the remote turnouts are much too divergent in path to allow it.

i.e. They turnouts are like this
...|
\=|
...|

and would need to be like this
.\|
..|

The result is I end up using at least two 11.25" circle radius to try to loop back close enough that they can align to ANOTHER turnout split (this is NOT what I want AT ALL)

Does anyone know if the #6 Wye can be used for this?  i.e. will this work or is there an issue with the connection points not lining up?

.....|
..../.\  <- #6 Wye?
...|.\.|  #6 crossover
...|..\|  #6 crossover
....\./  <- #6 Wye?
.....|