Hello all… I just bought the Atlas Dispatchers Delight. I am looking for tips from anyone who built the system. Also lookin for help with properly placing all the rail connectors in the correct spots. Thanks a million!
Do you mean the Atlas layout plan HO-2 as pictured below?
When you say rail connectors do you mean the insulated joints for running two trains at once? Did the package come with some pieces that look like this?:
If so there are eight places that need an insulated rail joiner. This would both sides of each switchtrack that is not dead ended but rejoins the “main”.
If none of the above about the controller is true, I would like to recommend looking at a DCC controller for the trains. Then you don’t need any insulated gaps, and the wiring becomes two wires from the controller to the track. That would be something like this:
http://www.digitrax.com/images/teaser_zep.jpg
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/ez/ez4.php
http://www.ncedcc.com/ncetest/nce2008026.jpg
http://www.atlasrr.com/commander.htm
I used this layout under my christmass tree But it is set up with a DCC set up. I only need one track connection.
Yes that’s the set. So basically each of the three dead end sections get all metal connectors on the rails. And one plastic connector goes on one side at each area where the tracks come together to keep the loops going? Do you think it’s better to go with a DCC setup? Does that make it easier to wire up and all?
In general, yes, wiring the layout on DCC would be simpler. In that case, use metal joiners everywhere and connect one set of feeders to the rails. You can use a few sets for reliability, but still all metal joiners.
However, this layout will not be overly complicated for DC, and it would be “good for you” to understand how to wire it that way. The idea is to use insulated joiners at both ends of two or more of the parallel tracks. The isolated sections then need their own feeders, which can be turned on and off with the selector switch. (Many DC layouts use a common rail, in which on rail has metal joiners everywhere, and the other rail has the insulated joiners and feeders from the switch.) The idea is to put a train on an isolated section and turn the power off to that section. Then you can turn on the power to the other train and run that one for a while.
If you have large enough isolated sections and two power-packs, you can use the selector switches to select one or the other power pack for a segment of track and run both trains at once - one from each powerpack. If you screw up the wiring, you can cause problems trying to do this and short out the powerpacks. If you need to get this complicated, Atlas has a basic wiring book which explains how to do this. It’s called “cab control”. If you really want to run two trains simultaneously, DCC probably is the way to go, but you almost need two DCC throttles for that.
Look up the Atlas book. Hope this helps,
Jim