Diamond, part 2

I have been working some on my diamond crossing. But before I dived in I drew a diagram of the rails, how they relate electrically and where I need to cut gaps in order to avoid shorts.

As can be seen in the picture the upper two rails have the same polarity (A), and they need not to be cut. The same goes for the lower rails, both having polarity B. The "middle" rails however, both to the left and to the right in the picture, have opposite polarities. So they cannot be connected together. An electrically separate section is required in both locations, and those sections (R1 and R2 in the picture) need to change polarity depending on whether an engine approaches on the upper track or on the lower track. Here is where my newly acquired Auto Reverser comes in.

In addition, the guard rails need to be cut to avoid possible shorts created by a passing engine.

The photo below shows the first pair of rails glued in place, going straight through the crossing. I decided to do it like that, and cut the rails later, in order to get a smooth curve through the diamond (yes, the entire diamond is curved in both directions).

Next, I installed the rails for the other track.

The crossing track rails run right up to the first pair of rails, and are soldered to those tracks. I had to do some intricate filing of the rails to get them to fit together, for the solder to be able to make a solid joint.

Coming next - guard rails (and more).

Thanks for watching.