I just finished my track work on my version of the Gulf Summit Lines and Susquehanna valley RR.
Atlas layout N-18
Have the zephyr system and its rolling Os for a short which I can’t find. I’m thinking it might be because there is a crossover and a reverse loop which I haven’t dealt with yet in terms of wiring or that I have not created gaps in the rails where the figure 8 has started?
I am not sure if there is even a reverse loop.
Any suggestions or advice would be great!
Thanks
DT
DT
I am not familiar with this N18 layout. Would it be in this layout gallery?
http://www.atlasrr.com/Code80/index.htm
Or any of the other galleries on the Atlas site.
Pete
Pete,
its this one in the code 80 gallery you sent me a link to
N-11018
There’s at least one reverse loop in that plan, created by the connector track just under the dual crossings in the center. That may be too short to make an effective reversing section thought. It could be expanded by including the outer track from the left of the crossover just above and to the left of the crossing all the way around and including the connector track.
If you have the older Atlas book that contained the plan (I sort of assume you do because you know the name of it), it should detail all reversing sections, those Atlas books always showed you how to wire each plan. If it’s a reversing loop in DC, it’s one in DCC - you can just automate it somewhat easier with DCC. And also it’s the loop section that gets the ‘polarity’ reversed in DCC, not the main. In general.
–Randy
I can see possibly 3 reverse sections. The Wye and the figure 8 for sure comes back on itself. The spur off the figure 8 can also cause a short. The Atlas book that features the layout will show where to put the insulated joints.
Pete
Sometimes, the best thing to do is to disconnect portions of the track until the short goes away and then start reconstructing the track work, one section at a time, until you recreate the short. Otherwise, you may wind up beating your brains out by just sitting there studying a drawing or staring at your layout.
Hi!
“RichHOFan” has some good advice (i.e. disconnect trackage until the short goes away, etc.). Also, you could run a loco around the layout “in your mind” and see where you end up reversing direction - which is likely the cause of the short.
Whether you have DC or DCC, the short situation would still exist. I suggest that the track plan would tell you where to put the gaps to fix this.
Mobilman44
It definitely has multiple reversing sections.
Print the diagram out as large as you can. Take a green highlighter and trace it around one rail. Take a red highlighter and trace it around the other rail. Any place that the colors come together you have a short.
The other simple way to do it is to take two different colored lead pencils, each representing a rail, in your hand and draw the layout. When two different rails join together, there is a short. Just try it on a piece of paper and draw a reverse loop and you will see what I mean.
Here a thread where someone else had issues and found a couple problems with the Atlas design.
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14613