Is this considered a revers section?

[trainsteve2435]

Hello, i made an attempt at drawing my track plan to show how it is. Can someone tell me if this is considered a reverse section and if it is, where do i need to isolate it in order to hook up an MRC AD520 auto reverser. Also, how do i get power to the reverse section if im not supposed to run power from my bus line? Thanks!

 

[trainsteve2435]

Also, the black lines represent my main line, and the red ones are where it crosses over.

 

[LongIslandTom]

I'm still learning DCC myself, but I think you actually have TWO reverse loops on your layout (see below). I know for straight DC you will have to use two separate block controls, one for each reverse loop. Not sure if you will need more than 1 autoreverser for DCC though (or can one module handle both loops..?).

 

[LongIslandTom]

Steve, I found this: http://www.wiringfordcc.com/track_2.htm#c4

It has a section explaining wiring for "balloon tracks" and it looks quite similar to what you got. Maybe that will help.

Good luck!

 

[Harold Cole]

That isn't a reverse loop,so you are cool.

 

[Collyn]

nmra has a very good tutorial http://www.nmra.org/beginner/wiring.html. If you took out that small section you wouldn't have a reverse loop and wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[EngineerKyle]

Dear Train Steve,

I am sorry to say you are getting questionable advice from the forum. :cry: Collyn's reply to eliminate the loop defeats the purpose of the fun of turning the train around, and I believe both Tom and Harold are well intentioned but wrong.

Your diagram does present an interesting reverse loop problem, but I think you've only got one reversing section. As Tom broke it down, it LOOKS like two reversing loops, but his second picture would not complete a circuit without the entire layout.

I think you've got one reversing loop there, and I'd wire it like this;

View attachment 31495

First, consider the entire "top" of the sketch. That track, which I've gapped at 1 is nothing more that a long passing siding, and will not, by itself reverse the direction of the train.

Now, if it were my layout, I'd put my gaps at 1,2,3 and 4. 3 is kinda hard to see because the lines that represnt your turnouts are a little tight there. It doesn't really matter if the blue track is the "mainline A" and the red is the "reversing section B" or vice versa. Those are labels and nothing more.

The module C goes in where I've shown. Yellow wires don't show too well on a white background, so I used blue.

Regarding power to the track.... I have a medium size layout with a reversing loop and a reversing wye. They share the same module. If I remember, all my drops come from the same power bus, no problem. If fact, with DCC you do not need power blocks for the sake of having power blocks. I guess your reversing section are a sort of "power block" in that it's isolated.... but all track can ( and I believe should) get power from the same supply in the DCC world.

Best of luck and tell us the results of your experiments. I'd try it like my picture next. :thumb:

 

[60103]

My 2 cents (canadian): the reversing section that you have to wire is from the crossover back to the mainline. The rest of the layout just makes a loop. You could just section off from the upper switch in the crossover (both legs beyond the frog) to just before the mainline switch at the left. Problem at this point is whether the section is long enough for a whole train.
If you use Kyle's solution, I would shrink the blue block as much as possible. If you run multiple trains you could get a pair of trains flipping the reverse block back and forth.

 

[Collyn]

ops:Opps I was wrong it isn't a reverse loop wasn't looking at it writeops:

 

[tweet469]

I'd also wire as EngineerKyle said. I t looks like this would eliminate a problem when the engine crossed the insulated gap and caused a short. If you did not have a autoreversing unit, you could use a-double ( pole double throw switch) wire with the bottom wires crossed over from the top two. Tweet.