Where to put reversing gaps?


Myowngod

Pennsy Tuscan Red Blood
I'm getting to the point where I need to consider where to cut the gaps in the rails for to reversing sections on my layout.

The first is a staging area with a main that passes on the outside and a few staging tracks on the inside (all orange lined tracks).
View attachment 4971
should I gap the whole staging area (the red slashes) or a train length of track along the back side of the reversed loop (the black slashes)?

The next situation is a branchline/alt. route that reverses. It is the green track lines that snake around the layout, starting at the upper left corner and ending up at around the 7 oclock position.
View attachment 4970
Again, should I gap the whole route (the red slashes) or just a train length section at the begining of the loop (the black slashes)? Does gapping the whole route mess-up other engines that might be sitting on a sidings on that section? I have 2 industrial spurs on it.

Also, I heard the double gaps in both rails should be staggered about 1/4" or so, so there's no shorting of the circuit. Is there any validity to this?

I'm think of using tony's train exchange reverser/breaker any feed back on this?

Ok, so that's 4 questions... I hope I get my money's worth from this post.;)

Thanks
Ron
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tony's is the best reverser by far, set and forget, You can put the gaps anywhere you have drawn just remember longer than the longest train. As for staggered gaps, my turntable hasn't and I use a Tony's reverser.

Ken.
 
I don't stagger mine. The reverser works by sensing a short anyway caused by the wheels touching opposite track polarities. This almost instantaneous detection causes the unit to switch the reversing tracks' polarity.

I have used a couple of Tony's and have had excellent reliability and you don't even see a light flicker during the change.
 
Thanks for the responses.
But another question I asked was, do the reversers effect other engines sitting on a siding in that reverse section? Let's say I'm switching on one of the industrial spurs and another engine enters that reversed section does it effect the direction of the engine I'm switching?
 
That's the beauty of dcc it only reverses the polarity not the signal, so what ever your other loco's are doing, when the reverser is tripped, they just keep on doing it.

This where the solid state switchers are better, very quick don't see a light flicker.
Ken.
 
Yeah ditto! The other loco only cares which end is set forward and which is the reverse (by decoder). That won't change and it will deal with the change in track polarity internally.
The reason the entering loco trips the reverser is to get the tracks matched up. Otherwise, you have one front side wheel picking up one polarity and the one behind it picking up the opposite. It doesn't really care what polarity the rails are, but it must be matched throughout.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Great thanks,
That's what I thought but I wanted to make sure before I wire a whole layout up and then OOPS! So it seems the longer the reversed section the better just in case a long train with metal wheels doesn't trip it on both ends at the same time. It might just blast the train to the moon!:eek:
 



Back
Top