Bachmann Crossovers

[Maverick1]

I just received my Bachmann crossover and it says that it comes unpolarized.  What does that mean and what is the best way to polarize it.  The directions were not very clear.

[Jim Banner]

Is it possible that you are talking about a crossing where one track crosses another but does not allow trains to move from one track to the other?  By comparison, a crossover is two turnouts with their diverging routes connected together so that a train can move from one track to another parallel track or it can continue on its original track.  Crossovers come in three flavors:  left hand (made of two left hand turnouts) or right hand (two right hand turnouts) or double (two left hand turnouts plus two right hand turnouts plus a crossing.

\   /
  \/      is a crossing
  / \
/     \


|   |
|   |
|\  |     is a left hand crossover
|  \|
|   |
|   |


|   |
|   |
|  /|     is a right hand crossover
|/  |
|   |
|   |


|     |
|     | 
|\   /|
|  \/ |
|  /\ |     is a double crossover
|/   \|
|      |
|      |

Reason I ask is that I think I know what they mean in terms of a crossing but I do not know what they mean in terms of a crossover.

Jim

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Jim and Maverick,

Bachmann HO EZ-Track crossovers come with a wire attached to each of the 2 metal frogs. 

Apparently they are not hooked up to anything when they come out of the factory, so they are not "polarized". 

If you had short wheelbase locos, You could polarize the frog with an external switch, which should be activated by the throw of the turnout points. 

I don't know the internals of the crossovers, but it may be possible that there are spdt switches tied to the points throwing mechanism inside, with their center terminal routed to the underside of the crossover for polarizing the frogs. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[Jerrys HO]

Maverick
Both of my crossovers I did not polarize the frogs and they work fine with my short wheelbase loco's. Only my 0 6 0  has a slight hesitation but not enough to stop it even at low speeds. Try without it first if you have problems then turn the crossover over and there is a black wire taped to the underneath right where it can be plugged in. Just plug it in and your frog is now polarized. There should have been a tiny piece of paper showing this in the box if not I can scan mine when I get home and post it for you. I have one DCC onboard and one not. My preference is the onboard one.
Jerry