isolating yard leads

[GRZ]

  this may help others,I have three dcc locos, and six dc locos,I would like them[dc] locos to be in the yard ect,and ready for service without haveing to set them on when needed.rumiging through my junk box the other day, I found a box of micro switchs,one side normaly open other nomaly closed,I took the lever off[one screw] sliced the rail solderd the leads to track the other to normaly open side of the switch, screwed the switch under the deck so I could touch the little button on the switch I wanted to become active untill the loco was in service. the best part of all this is the track goes dead when you let go of the button, no worry of burning up a motor because you forgot to turn off that toggle! they have two mounting holes and line up neatly. im thinking of mounting them flush with the surface by the track they operate and haveing a number post with a screw with a short piece of wood so it could be twisted to hold the button . an old  old railroader name Grz

[Doneldon]

GRZ-

Your idea of switching the power off is a good one if you want to leave DC locos on your tracks while you operate with DCC. DC motors cook to death when exposed to DCC current for long times, i.e., more than a few minutes. However, remember that every loco on a given energized track will move when you press your momentary contact switch. So ... you can only keep one loco per track or you'll need split-second timing to let just one loco onto the main at a time. NB: You can also use a rotary switch to energize tracks; this works especially well with turntables and roundhouses.
                                                                                                                                                                 -- D