[RichD]

Most of the people that I race HO with do not use brakes, even with T-Jets. I have used diodes to reduce the track voltage, but not to reduce braking, it would be easier to put a 100 ohm potentiometer in the brake circuit to get adjustable brakes. High end inline magnet cars have so much downforce that they hit a brick wall when you get on the brakes, even if the brake wire is left disconnected. High end HO controllers have a coast feature, so the voltage never goes to zero. The coast is adjustable via the same pot that is used for the brake control in most cases.

 

[RichD]

Take a look at this diagram. If your track is not wired for brakes and you use resistor controllers it does not matter how the two controller wires are connected. When the track is wired for brakes and you switch the wires that go to the wiper and the resistor you will get a dead short across the power supply when the controller is in the off position. Once the trigger is pulled enough to get the wiper off of the brake contact the controller should work properly.