This basic schematic shows the concept of my layout.
There are two obvious reversing loops (1 and 2). But is number 3 also reversing?
There are plenty of crossovers between the two main trackloops.
If I knew how to add a pdf I would add the full trackplan in pdf format.
Uploading of anyrail format (.any) does not work.
Sorry, but no schematic visible to me.
You are going to have to find a way to post a viewable schematic.
Rich
It sounds like you have a dogbone track plan which produces a double track mainline between two reversing loops. The number of crossovers between the tracks of the double track mainline doesn’t really matter. One will create a reversing section. It’s possible to wire it making one mainline track or the other the reversing section between the two loops but I chose to make each loop a reversing section creating two reversing sections. As to whether or not you have a third reversing section, that’s hard to say without a schematic. If you have another section of track that leaves the mainline and then returns to it going in the opposite direction, that’s a reversing section.
Atlas wiring book pp 38-40 can help identify reversing sections.
You can wire two reversing loops as one and the connecting “main” with the crossovers is your main line provided none of the crossovers connects the ends of a reversing loop. You isolate each reversing section from the main.
You can trace a reversing section with a finger on one rail. If your finger ends up on an opposite polarity rail you have a reversing section. This is the method to use on a track plan. In that case you run your finger over the track (both rails) and see if your finger is travelling the opposite direction when you get back to where you started.
An asymmetrical car can be used, put a piece of masking tape on one side of a box car and run it around by hand. If the masking tape side is on the opposite side when you get back to where you started then it traversed a reversing section somewhere.
How about a photo for those of us who don’t have the Atlas wiring book.
Note
The Atlas Wiring Book(s) - there have been several, and multiple editions of some – assume common rail wiring as do the Atlas componens. Not all use common rail although the reversing loop issue or problem is obvious not limited to DC or DCC or common rail or “normal.”
Dave Nelson
Reversing sections are never wired as common rail so no need to worry there.
DCC bus systems are generally wired in the same manner as for common rail i.e. no isolated blocks or at least no blocks isolated only at one rail. One bus wire feeds all of the one rail and the other bus wire feeds all of the other side.
My edition of the Atlas Wiring book is 2003.
It’s not possible to do either in this forum. There is a Sticky Post in the General Forum which explains how to post a *.jpg type of file
For purposes of this discussion even a hand drawn track plan would help.
The OP hasn’t been in the room since early yesterday morning. Meanwhile, it seems pointless to speculate on something as complex as a possible series of reversing sections without a track plan.
Rich
I don’t find those two methods to be all that reliable except, perhaps, for very small layouts. It is too easy to get lost and confused on larger layouts.
In my experience, a much more reliable method is to draw a two-rail track diagram of the layout using a different color for each rail. When those two colors meet on the same rail, you have a case of reverse polarity. This also provides a visual record whereas the finger tracing method and asymetrical car method provide no record as they occur but a moment in time.
I recommend you get a copy of Paul Mallery’s two volumes. I knew Paul when he was an electrical engineer at Bell Labs as well as a Master Model Railroader, so I think we can take as a given that he knew what he was talking about.
https://www.amazon.com/Wiring-Your-Layout-Expanded-3rd/dp/B000K7FI8C
https://www.biblio.com/electrical-handbook-for-by-mallery-paul/work/4192836
others by Paul
With son Steven (whom I also kne
I’m sure that each of those books makes for a good read. But, I’m not sure that there even is a book devoted to to reversing sections or, if there is, that you need one.
The first thing to do when you suspect a reversing section is to find what I call “the point of opposite polarity”, that is the point where positive (+) meets negative (-) on the same rail. Once you find that point, you then need to determine how much track will fall within the reversing section, so that you can isolate and gap that reversing section.
While there is more than one way to match polarities inside and outside the reversing section, on a DCC layout an auto-reverser makes the most sense since it reacts instantly. Any feeders inside the reversing section must be wired to the output side of the auto-reverser. No feeders from outside the reversing section should be wired to the auto-reverser.
Rich
Save your .any layout to .png. Upload to flickr. Then take the embedded tags for the flickr picture and put them in the embedded button.
I use imgbb.com to upload my jpeg files. You can then import them in that format to the forum without any issues.