Sorry for the hand drawing but looking for some input where to gap/insulate my track for the 2 reverse loops. Its approximately 40 inches between the turnouts connecting the front to back mainline. First thought was to isolate those 2 sections but curious what others recommend? Type of reversers? Any other advice? I will be using a NCE DCC sysytem and modern diesel locomotives, no more than 2-3 in tandem, PECO Electrofrog with PECO PL10 and 13 switches.
32’ end to end bench work, 26" radius on the ends… Alot bigger than my drawing portrays! 1-2 trains utilizing mainline and maybe a staging engine servicing yard.industries not shown (when kids are around). Id bet more times than not just myself and one train. Good questions, I had not considered multiple train reprocussions.
To answer your first question, you could create two reverse loops, one at the top and one at the bottom. Alternatively, you could create one reversing section by isolating just the left side of the layout.
The main issue will be to control the entry and exit routes of multiple trains. You might have a better chance to do that with a single reversing section.
The Digitrax AR-1 is a good auto-reverser with a mechanical relay, and it is a lot cheaper than an auto-reverser with a solid state relay like the PSX-AR. While the PSX-AR is a very fine auto-reverser, I don’t think you need that level of sophistication on your particular layout.
In my version of your diagram, the point of reverse polarity in each loop is indicated by the red circles. The first set of gaps in each loop must be placed at that point of reverse polarity. The green circles are the locations of the other gaps to completely isolate the reverse loops.
As always, the key is to keep the length of the train shorter than the length of the reverse loop, so that the train is not simultaneously entering and exiting the loop.
Since you will be running more than one train, the other concern is that one train not enter the loop while the other train is exiting the loop.
If the loop is long enough, though, it would be OK for both trains to be fully inside the loop at the same time.
Essentially, your layout looks something like this. 32 feet is a long layout, and has lots of possibilities. The “Hight Line” through Syrah is the Fly in your ointment, otherwise you would have two simple reversing loops.
Let us assume that the loops are your two terminals, and allow them to have perhaps two tracks and a siding at Vineyard Vale, and several tracks and sidings at Booze City.
The gaps are as shown and while of course there are many switches, only the numbered switches shown would need to be controlled by your CTC machine, and dispatcher. Local switches around Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, Syrah, and Burgundy can all be hand thrown. Any switches that you add at Vineyard City and at Booze City can be handled by local towers.
Assume that both loops are used in the counterclockwise direction. The CTC switches are power routing, that all trains through the loop cities will stop in the station, and that power is applied to the High Line and on the Water Level Route.
Rich/Floridaflyer Can you elaborate on this? I understand your previous diagram and using a total of 12 insulators, do you mean to put insulators on all 4 point rails on each of the 4 crossover turnouts for a total 16?
With layouts roughly approximating a dogbone with crossovers, sometimes it’s simplest to gap so that there is only a single reversing section. This is a bit counter-intuitive, but it often works well with DCC and auto-reversers (so no toggles need be thrown).
Here four gaps create a single reversing section. I believe this would work, but a lot depends on the relative distances, which are hard to judge from the sketch – so it might not work at all in this case. Sometimes an advantage to this approach is that the reversing section is single track.
The layout is long enough, but I don’t know if you mentioned the width. By looking at the drawing, the reverse loop may not hold an average size train for the whole train to be contained in the loop. And like someone mentioned before, the train can’t be longer than the reverse loop.
No. I would move the gaps at the turnouts on the left side of the diagram to the point ends of the turnouts, and eliminate the gaps at the red circles. Number of gaps would be reduced to eight and each end is isolated
First, thanks for all the replys! Im very much a beginer and appreciate the insight…
Due to the orientation of my pic the single reverse option went right over my head when Rich mentioned it in first reply. [:)] There will be 14’ between the 2 turnouts on right side, longer than any trains I plan to run. After seeing Cuyamas diagram it makes sense and seems like the most user friendly route?
I guess Im confused of the operational differnces in the single vs double option. My original plans did not include the crossovers for fear of complexity. But being able to run the train the opposite dire+ction through scenes has driven me to figure it out!
Well over a year of planning and preparing so excited to be laying track I just want to be sure to get this right! Hate the idea of tearing up new track over something so easily prevented.
Sorry for the hand drawing but looking for some input where to gap/insulate my track for the 2 reverse loops. Its approximately 40 inches between the turnouts connecting the front to back mainline. First thought was to isolate those 2 sections but curious what others recommend? Type of reversers? Any other advice? I will be using a NCE DCC sysytem and modern diesel locomotives, no more than 2-3 in tandem, PECO Electrofrog with PECO PL10 and 13 switches.
