Lost at Hello

[itsallaboutme]

Hi there. I understand how a train goes backward, I didn't understand how two trains sharing a rail can be going in opposite directions. But I think a lightbulb went off in my brain. Reversing a section isn't really swapping polarity of the two rails, it's more like opening a dam farther downhill. It doesn't affect the train on the other section, because it's behind a different dam.

What do you think about Selectrix? This is N scale.

Since this is all garage sale stuff, I had a little problem with the switches. Since you folks are so nice to newbies maybe I can return the favor by offering some advice of my own. Number one, test all the turnouts before installing them. Number two, if you test a turnout with its cover off, it will throw parts of itself across the room.

 

[hamltnblue]

You're getting close. The track end is basically the same. Both DC and DCC have a DC motor. You have one polarity to run forward and one for backward, just like a battery. When using DCC there is a decoder that takes the voltage and signal from the track and decides which polarity to send to the motor, including how much voltage for speed. It also looks at the signal and decides what lights should be on and if sound is installed, which sounds and how loud they should be.