Do you guys and gals think I should keep or remove the reverse loops that are circled in red? I was kinda thinking of removing the smaller one so I could elevate the main line against the wall.
Run a consist with 2 loco's facing opposite directions and you won't have to turn the train around . If you're running steam that's a different story. I run mainly in 1 direction unless switching.
Run a consist with 2 loco's facing opposite directions and you won't have to turn the train around . If you're running steam that's a different story. I run mainly in 1 direction unless switching.
Actually either layout will be just fine if you redefine what is the reverse loop area.
The concept of what is a reverse loop changes when one enters the wonderful world of DCC in as much as you are running your trains with no real need to manually control the polarity/phasing of the rails. Reverse loop controllers are designed to handle the polarity/phasing for you.
Consider this solution. You can easily divide your layout into two power districts. The creation of the two power districts is simple. First trace with a pencil, pen, or marker the outer loop of the layout. You will note there are only four turnouts on this loop. Isolate both rails of the turnout where the rails diverge into the inner area thus in effect creating two power districts.
1) The first power district is the outer loop of the layout which allows any train to travel in uninterrupted continuous running around the layout. The power for this district is routed from the command center through a circuit breaker to the rails.
2) The second power district is all track other than the outer loop of the layout. Note that depending upon which of the four exits a train uses to enter the main loop will determine the direction the train will move on the main loop. The power for this district is routed from the command center through a circuit breaker through a reverse loop control to the rails.
Sometimes the answer is simple.
Al Silverstein
Model Railroader since 1965
DCC user since 1994
Well with more thinking, I elevated the track that is against the top and right wall 3 1/4 ". And also the siding is to high also to connect to the yard . So with that happened, I do not have any room for any reverse loops.
Main line is already done so I am sticking to my plan. I will post some pics tonight.
habberguy
See if this version helps a little w/ your plan. Made that long track below the yard to bottom loop just a yard siding. Also put a backdrop between the top/right side & rest of layout to kind of create hidden staging. The big gap between the main & siding is more of a function of your CAD program than what you can actually put down especially w/ flextrack. Make the back drop just high enough to not see those tracks but low enough to reach over using a step box. just in case of a derailment or whatever.
If you add two facing crossovers in the upper yard, you can at least reverse the direction of the train, although you'd need a wye or turntable to actually turn the engine.