Thanks, Kent.
Your description answered a question I've had about this scheme since I first heard of it way back. I never could quite visualize it. What I had missed is that the neutral goes off through the light while the hot heads toward the other 3-way. Bringing the neutral to the far 3-way, thus enabling the continuing of the branch circuit is a nice touch.
The polarity at the lampholder is always correct.
The downside, for me is the unbalanced magnetic field created in some switch settings, or when the branch is continued and downstream load is connected. But that is a health issue (and debated, at that), not a NEC issue.
Bottom line, what you described is NEC compliant, IMO.
This is my idea of what you described, KentVW:
ElectricAL
[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 03-10-2004).]