The signalwill showwhichdirection the turnoutmotor is set,
notwhichway the turnout actually is thrown. For example,
assume that some sceneryworkhas gotten the turnout glued
in thediverging routeposition. Even if the turnoutmotor is
unable tomove the turnout itwill set the switch inside it. The
signalwill show the straight
routewhen the turnout is still
set for thediverging route.
Operators seemmost com-
fortablewith yellow and
green LEDs for diverging
turnouts and red and green
formerging routes. Thisway,
greenmeans that you are
lined for themain, yellow
means that youwill take the
turnout, and redmeans that
the turn
.
out is thrown against
you. Prototypically, the green
(clear) signal is on top.While
railroads have been screening
engineers for color blindness
since the 1920s,many did slip
through, and just ran from
the positionof the lit signal,
not its color.
Thedisplay for sucha scenario
is immaterial and canbeany-
thing froman LED in the fas-
cia, toadwarf signal next to
the turnout, toa signal bridge
(8) over abunchof tracks.
Dwarf signals canbe scratch-
built or bea factoryunit. They
DCC ImpulsesColumn - 3
3: Abi-level LEDassembly
suitable for a track-sidesig-
nal as is. Photocourtesyof
All Electronics.
3
maybeas simpleas an LEDor two inaplastichousing, like the
inexpensive LED-212 fromAll Electronics, as in (3).Manyof the
plastic LEDholders canhave the LEDs removed, soadjusting
what color iswhere isnot abigdeal.
Manycompaniesmakedwarf signals, in (4, nextpage). These
areavailable forabout$10. If youchoose tomakeyourown, see
/dwarf-signal.html
for ideas.
Live frogs andDCC
Howabout anarrangementwhere the turnoutwill tell you
whichway it is actually set?You cando it if youuseDCCand
live frog turnouts, suchas thePecoElectrofrog. The signal is
built out of two LEDs anda resistor.
This schemewillworkwith just about any styleLEDyouhave
available: twoLEDsora singlebi-color LEDwith three leads,
either commoncathodeor commonanode. TheLEDpack-
age shown in (3)wouldworknicely. If youareusing twoLEDs,
MRH-Apr2014
