Model Railway Forum

Tim may I ask why you need insulated fishplates?

Using a siding or end of one for a Programming area. As shown in the NCE PowerCab manual page 12 link to manual

Thanks Brian I always assumed it was safer to have a separate piece if track not attached to the layout.

With insulated track joiners there is a chance that the rear wheels could bridge the gap. The danger then is that the whole layout could end up as the programme track with every loco on the same address.
Tricky this DCC stuff, init?

That was going to be my next point Steve. What if the loco moves slightly, which I understand they can, and shorts out the gap.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:33 pm That was going to be my next point Steve. What if the loco moves slightly, which I understand they can, and shorts out the gap.

You ensure the section from IRJs to buffer stop used for programming is long enough to accommodate every loco/DMU etc plus at least 50mm. If that cant be achieved you should use a totally separate section of track for programming. Locos only move a few small amount when being programmed typically about 3 to 5mm

You never know, one day I might find that out.

Doubt it

Thinking about it Brian. Only got 11 locos now.

With NCE, outside of the programming track mode which reduces current, it allows you to read CV' s whereas programming on the main, you can't read CV's so you can change the address but set min & max speeds for matching locos, etc so you need a decent length of track to be able to determine the max speed you want.
With POM, one puts in the address you want to change & it only changes the locos that have that address so it is advisable not to have any loco with default address 3 on the layout at any one time, otherwise that will get changed too.