Hi,

The two red wires are the ones that would control the current on the isolated track section.

There should be small metal plates soldered to the red wires, those plates will be in touch with the shiny tongue (the center rail connector bit) of the track section on both sides of the isolated section.

Now, use a small piece of thick paper to isolate the center rail section from the rest of the layout (again on both sides): paper between the shiny tongues of the track (and the small plates attached to the red wires).

Think of it like a sandwich: tongue of the track, metal plate of the red wire, paper (isolator), and the tongue of the track.

When the signal is showing green, the red wires electrify the isolated section.

Hope this helps.

Cem.

Yes I got the impression that that was the function of the two red wires. There are no metal plates soldered to the ends of the red wires.
The red wires simply have bare ends. One is protruding from the casing of the switch, the other is simply soldered on to the left tongue of the track part of the switch (a bit odd, or? Should it be like that?)
Please see the photos I have uploaded to imgur: https://imgur.com/a/GAlVYEs
These photos show exactly what the switch looks like and I have previously tried to set it up, without success and I have included a drawn schematic of how I am planning to make the switch work, based on your helpful instruction.

I hope the link works?

Regarding the isolation, thank you for a very clear and visual instruction. So my question is, in isolating both outer ends of the track pieces immediately in contact with the semaphore switch, is the goal to thus create a kind of "circuit within a circuit", that is to say the red wires should create an isolated circuit within the 3 pieces of track (two neighbouring tracks and the semaphore switch track in between them), that is separated from the rest of the track. OR, should the red wires be in contact with the rest of the track (by being in contact with the tongues in the "sandwich" that attach to the rest of the larger track and isolated from the two tracks in contact with the switch? Thus maybe creating a kind of "bridge"?
So that when the switch is activated and set in the "open" position, it should bring in electricity from the where the terminal track is connected and feed in to the isolated small piece of track around the switch, thus electrifying it and allowing the train to pass?

Sorry if this is a long reply, just trying to wrap my head around the working principle of the switch...

Also in the link is a picture of the inside of the switch, I see that some corrosion has occurred on the slider contacts, which I assumed is hindering operation, so I am going to use deoxit spray to clean those contacts. When I have cleaned the contacts, I am going to test the two ends of the two protruding red wires with a multimeter, I am assuming that when the switch is set in the "open" position, there should be continuity detected when testing the two ends of the wires by connecting to the poles of the multimeter?

Does my hand drawn schematic look like it is correct, as you described?

Lastly, there are 4 holes on the side of the track, do you know what purpose these serve?

Kind regards,

WW

Heisan WW,

It's ok if the red wires are missing the plates, you can solder, or just tie them to the tongues.

Unfortunately I can't see your images. You can send them to my mail directly (just click the "arrow down" over my avatar to see the details).

I'll make a drawing for you later on (I have to attend to some chores right now).

"So that when the switch is activated and set in the "open" position, it should bring in electricity from the where the terminal track is connected and feed in to the isolated small piece of track around the switch, thus electrifying it and allowing the train to pass?" - yes!

Multimeter thing; correct! The holes on the side of the tracks serve different purposes, I can tell you when I see the photos.

C.

There may be some n.o.s. parts at a few shops in Germany, (e-mail them and ask)- modellbahn Lippe, Union, etc., or old signals, etc. on the Catawiki auction site, or E-bay.