How to wire for 2 trains on 1 track

[jward]

i don't think it matters which rail you make the common, as long as you're consistant. for example, on my layout i have a twice around, over and under with all curves the same way. it was simple to make the innermost rail the common, and run all my block wires off the outermost rail.

you want to be careful when wiring so that you don't get the rails mixed up. a handy gadget to have is an ohmmeter. you can do all sorts oftests on your wiring to make sure things are not shorted together. here's one.

with the track power off and the block switches in neutral position, and all locomotives removed from the track, set your meter to read resistance (ohms)....anywhere on the layout, with a lead on each rail, the meter should read a very large resistance, like a million ohms or more. placing the two leads on the common rail at any point should read close to zero ohms. the same goes for the power rail anywhere within the same block. the power rail, across the insulated joints should also read a very high number.

[hawkijoe62]

Jward, thanks for the answer, I appreciate it.