I really thought I posted this earlier today, but a search does not show it, so here I go again. My layout is currently in 3 pieces, because we moved, and the basement needs improvements before I can set it up again. It’s (2) 10’ x 2’ wall mounted sections, with a corner section in an “L” configuration. “N” scale folded dogbone double main, Kato Unitrack. Before I moved it ran great, but needed scenery. While it’s down I want to improve on the wiring. More drops, standardize the color codes, and have a good spreadsheet / map for troubleshooting. I’m using Atlas Controllers / Selectors for dual cab control.
With a double main, folded dogbone what was the outside track on one Leg becomes the inside on the other leg. So What is the best way to designate Track 1 and Track 2. After that which rail is usually the common, and hence which is the hot or the one that’s selected? Is it best to designate your blocks from West to East? Any ideas that are accepted standard practice for something like this would be appreciated. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, and since I have the time to add more drops, and lable everything well I want to do it right. BTW I am using 20 gauge drops to terminal strips, then 14 gauge from the strips to the control panel. Currently (2) MRC Tech II 2400 for Cabs, but I will be adding Walk Around Cabs Nice little Troller ones that I have 2 of. Thanks in Advance… Dave
First [#welcome]
The rule of thumb is where ever your 1st lead coneects to the rails that is where you decide the phasing of the track. Talking DCC RAIL “A” is red wire and RAIL “B” is black wire.
AS far is DC I would follow the same as DCC so if and when you go DCC it will be easy. The RAIL “A” would be the rail you would GAP for your blocks and RAIL “B” is the common rail.
Your track #1 and track #2 would be for logic sake be set at the main terminal of your layout. The EAST, WEST helps when you run the trains and try and keep routes and trains in order. If you have a prototype railroad in mend that will help set the east and west also.
Dave: it doesn’t really matter.
My first instinct is that the North rail is common. (You assume that you are looking North, so the N rail is the far one.) When your layout wraps around the dogbone, it’s the one towards the center.
However, you might want to use the rail with the fewest breaks in it for the common.
One of my friends recycled some bits of an old layout and ended up with the common rail switching sides. That got him into some tricky wiring.
I have been searching for a simple wiring diagram of a basic dual cab control system to reassure myself that I’m on the right track. Can anyone point me in the right direction? None of my googles have produced what I need. Thanks in advance!
Wiring for cab control happens before the layout, not on the layout. Gap the layout for sections (blocks)and wire it back to a common set of terminals. Then wire your control panel so you can know what you are doing. Wire those leads on one side to the track terminals and the other side to the cab terminals. Then wire your cabs(one or ten) through dpdt switches to the control terminals. The order it works in is 1) feed power to cabs. 2) cabs are selected through the DPDT switchs and 3) feed to the control panel, 4)which then sends the current to the track, one block at a time.
It is not complex but it is complicated. Remember DC current is always a simple circle that is broken at the track and then closed by the motor. The complication results from the hundreds of possible circles you want to be able to select between. One advatage of DCC is that the computers in the throttle and the engines do the switching for you.
Cab control means a decision as to which cab(throttle) you wish to use to send the power to which block of track. Once the proper switches are thrown, it is still a simple circle.
Good luck, it took me years to figure DC out and now I went to DCC and am glad. As many others have said, now I run trains, not track work.
The Complete Atlas Wiring Book (can be ordered from the Atlas web site) has the basics of wiring DC Dual Cab Control - setting up 2 power backs with block control in DC. Atlas uses common rail and their electrical components (naturally). Usually, substituting toggle switches for the Selectors and mounting the toggles in a layout map makes the system easier to use. The Atlas switch machine controllers are also often replaced with either push buttons or center off momentary toggle switches, again mounted on the layout map. With the controls mounted on the map it is much easier to reach for the correct toggle than trying to remember which switch controls Block11, or even where Block 11 is.
Unfortunately, with the heavy promotion of DCC, block control wiring is rapidly becoming a lost art (DCC users would say with good reason). I have not seen an article on setting up block control in Model Railroader in years - these used to be featured at least annually to help MRs understand the concepts and apply them. If you can find a used copy of Westcott’s books on wiring (published by Kalmbach), they show how to do it in great detail.
The most difficult concepts in DC block control wiring were reversing loops and power-routing turnouts. Since Atlas doens’t make power-routing turnouts, their book doesn’t discuss it (the Westcott book does).
The gauge of your wiring is more than adequate for N scale DC - some would call it overkill. But it will work well should you ever convert to DCC.
As I mentioned earlier, the easiest way to keep track of blocks and turnouts is to draw up a map of your railroad, and mount the controls directly on to the map. Put a sheet of Plexiglass or Lexan over the map to protect it, or make it from pin striping.
When you add your walk-around control, you will probably want to add some “local” control panels so you don’t have to go back to the central pan
Simply put, a dogbone, folded or not, is a circle. To make it a dogbone, a section is pushed together close enough to look like double track, but it’s still a circle. If you double track it, it’s simply two circles, one inside the other. Folding, it is still the same thing, a circle. It doesn’t matter how the circle is configured as far as wiring goes, you have a rail on the outside of the circle and the other on the inside of the circle. This is what you need to be concerned with when wiring, the inside and outside rail are the two sides of the circuit (the motor in the loco completes the circuit). Thinking of it in these terms will also make it easier for troubleshooting. For ease in operation and troubleshooting, you’d probably be best to think of each loop separately, ie. the outside loop is the blue loop and the inside is the orange loop. Show them on your panel or diagram in these colors, designate them as such on your controllers, etc. I personally don’t recommend using common rail, as the layout gets bigger, it becomes more of a headache. At each block separation, insulate both rails and run two more wires for the next block.
For the wiring, drill through your cross pieces of the framework with a 3/8 inch bit, just below each track. Thread the two pieces of 14 gauge wire (two different colors) for this block through these holes, and write the block number directly on the wood right below the hole with a permanent marker. This will make troubleshooting MUCH easier when you need to do it. It also makes it easier to determine which set of wires is feeding which track when doing the wiring in the first place.