Turnout rails

A turnout is a special rail with more than two ports and several internal paths. At any time, only one of its paths is active: that’s where the locomotive will go.

Anatomy

A typical turnout has three ports: a toe and two heels (such as “straight” and “diverging”). It exposes two paths:

Toe → Straight (straight through),
Toe → Diverging (diverging route).

A turnout with its ports (toe and heels) — Ports of a turnout

Double slip switches or other types expose more.

The active path

The rail holds its current active path. All routing and simulation functions rely on it: a train arriving from the point exits through the picked port.

Changing a turnout’s state

Three ways, depending on the mode:

In Manual mode, click directly on the turnout in the canvas to cycle to the next path. You can also do it from its card in the Paths & States sidebar section.
In Auto mode, the supervisor positions each turnout automatically before a train crosses it.
In Edit mode, the Paths & States section allows you to set the state, mainly to test the actuator configuration.

Changing a turnout's state in manual or edit mode

Turnout and actuator

For a turnout to be driven by the command station, you must associate an actuator with it (a hardware device on a DCC address). The actuator is what physically materialises the active-path change.

See Configuring an actuator (coming soon).

If you don’t attach an actuator, the turnout stays purely logical: it works in simulation and edit, but no order is sent to the station to control the real equipment.