I am designing a new layout and it may include a dogbone double mainline that comes back and crosses to make a junction. If I do that the polarity of the rails would be opposite. Which for the crossing would be ok, but if I want a connector track it would create a polarity problem. Would an auto reverser fix that and if so where would I put it? I read that the piece of track that uses that auto reverser needs to be long enough for a whole train, so that would be longer than a connector track. Also, I would like the junction to be in the middle of the layout so the “loop” would be pretty big, maybe 10-12 ft long. Is that to much track to be connected to the reverser?
I readily admit I have a form of dyslexia and you lost me with the connector track.
We know there is a dogbone, and crossing, a connector track? and all this happens in the middle of the layout. Someone knows exactly what you mean and the next 10 of us have 10 different visions of your track plan. A pic is worth a thousand Q&A’s to your post.
If this ends up in a reversing loop then you need an auto reverser. The auto reverser could power a sub-bus that could supply feeders to your 12’ of track.
Probably the easiest way to handle a dogbone layout is to make the end loops the reverse sections. Then you can have an many crossovers between the two mains as you want without worrying about it.
A 10-12 foot long reverse loop can be easily handled by an auto-reverser. Just be sure to provide enough feeders to adequately power the loop.
The reverse loop should be longer than the longest train so that the entire train, from the lead loco to the trailing car, is affected by the change in polarity. Of course, for practical reasons, the reverse loop should be long enough to avoid having the train run into itself.