04-09-2010, 10:20 AM
The one situation where two parallel tracks could cause a short besides a turn back loop at either end causing a reverse loop would be if the two tracks were electrically isolated and powered by two throttles in dc. In that situation if one track is "East bound" and the other is "West bound" a cross over would cause a short without gaps installed on both tracks. With dcc since the reversing function is accomplished by the decoder in the engine, there is no problem unless there is a loop at the end to make it a reverse loop.