Rotary switch to select track at roundhouse

[frankbed]

Have seven stall walther roundhouse plus an additional three to five outside tracks. Need recommendation for a selector switch or other thoughts

 

[trailrider]

Do you have a turntable that indexes by itself? If not, then a rotary switch might be a good idea, depending on whether you can find one with enough positions and contacts. I used to use a 2-deck 2-pole/deck 8-position rotary switch to select blocks on my old DC/block system layout. This switch had make-before-break contacts so there would be no interruption of power as a train crossed from one block to another. Not sure where you'd get such rotary switches anymore. Probably on the internet.

 

[NP2626]

I built what I think was a Diamond Scale turn table for a club I was a member of a while back. It had a device under the turntable that was supposed to allow it to index to roundhouse tracks. Because I had spent a so much of my time building and installing it, I felt it was someone else's job to wire up and get operating. I don't know if it ever was gotten to the operational stage. I don't know how a Rotary Switch could be made to work. With my own turntable, I simply align the tracks visually. I almost think this is a deep enough subject that Kalmbach Publishing (Model Railroader) would have come out with a book on the subject!