Hi Mr. B,
Your solution seems simple enough as the layout would be considered small. Small enough to know where all the trains are. And oh yes, definetly have to have a cabosse.
At one time I definetly would have wanted two trains heading towards each other lol, but not now.
Thanks,
Bopb
Don't Ever Give Up
Believe it or not, size matters.
If this is a small layout, then you can probably get by with 1 auto-reverser. Isolate the X-pattern just inside the loop, on all 4 turnouts, both rails. Connect the autoreverser to the entire X.
If it's a larger layout, I'd recommend 2 auto-reversers. Insulate as above, but also break the cross piece between the two legs of the X, between turnouts 6 and 7 on your diagram. One auto-reverser goes to each leg of the X.
Now, why does size matter here? The trick with auto-reversers is to make sure that you only cross one auto-reverse boundry at a time. So, if a train is running on the upper-left-to-lower-right leg of the X, you don't want another train making the crossover on the other leg at the same time. It's not likely that will happen on a small layout, but it might on a larger one.
For a very small layout, you may see occasional problems when your engine is exiting the crossover before the caboose enters it. (You do run with a caboose, right?) Plastic wheels, no problem, but with all-metal you may find the two ends of the train demanding that the auto-reverser flip for them, causing a conflict.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Last week I made a post about using a wye in a reverse loops and have since given up on that idea and am going back to using conventional turnouts. Pictured below is a simplified track diagram for the purpose of finding where to put insulated rail joiners, how many auto power reversers are need and where they should be. Would you suggest some 1156 light bulbs as well? Also any input as to whether this is workable or suggested track changes will be appreciated. The outside rails of the main lines are positive if that makes any difference
There are two main lines. Turnouts 1,2,3, and 4 allow the train to change from one line to the other and back again.
Turnouts 5 and 6 change the train's direction, 7 and 8 change it back again.
This is not the full track plan but is represenative.
Bob