I have been working on my new layout for about 3 years and decided I wanted a single crossover so that I can reverse the direction of the trains. I purchased (2) #6 walthers turnouts and installed them with a couple switch motors. I did some you tube looking and also purchased a couple AR1 for reversing.
My problem is that the reversing has to start at the first turnout and I can not determine where the AR1 needs to be located and also how it needs to be wired. Is there anyone that has done this same application with success?
Lots of posible combination to deal with. Hard to help without an image.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
As PED said, without a diagram we are lost. With a diagram there are any number of guys on the board that can help you.
If your layout is a dogbone shape with the crossover somewhere along the shank of the bone, the easiest thing to do ir isnulate the loops at each end and power each loop via an AR-1. Then you can have as many crossovers going whichever way you want along the shank portion and nott have to worry about it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
If you builded in interlocking tower ewe wood know.
Ewe have switch points protected by signals, in the normal position the train continues forward into the loop.
Guess what, the signal facing the train when it went around the loop is RED, and will stay red until you reverse the switch.
LION would gap all of the track between each switch point althoug you could choke that up a bit depending on your layout.
In world of LION that dead block would receive power from the mane lion depending on the orientation of the switch. With AR, lion knows knot, but if him was to use such a contrivance, him would locate it on the loop.
LION does knot know why him would buy such a costly contrivance when the interlocking tower is purrfectly capable of reversing the power on its own account.
Of course maybe you do not want your train to stop at the red light (which *IS* prototypical, of course) but then him would knot know what wierd elscktronik boxes would do. The destructions that came with the device ought to explain the installation thereof.
Now, where is that wildebeeste.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
i am trying to cross over to a track that is running the opposite way. Can not figure out how to get the AR to work going through a switch.
If you are just switchign from oen track to another, that is not a reverse loop, just because one main is the east main and one is the west main. It's only a reverse loop situation if at one or both ends, the two mains loop arouns and connect, the classic dog bone shape. If they do NOT connect, the correct solution is to wire both mains the same way, so that the track rail towards the backdrop on both lines is the same side of the bus and the rail towards the aisle on both lines is the other side of the bus. Then thre is no polarity conflict with a crossover betwen them. If the overall shape is a dog bone, then you isolate the loops at each end and connect the autoreverses to them. You can then have as many crossovers as you want int he shank of the bone with no issues.
The OP is asking us to guess.
I'll play.
If yes and yes, does your longest train fit in the blue zone, because that is where you would attach your AR1
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddyThe OP is asking us to guess.
He said it is a "dog bone" with a crossover. [edit] My mistake, Randy said that. But I'm assuming that's what the OP is getting at?
Scroll down about midway here,
http://www.wiringfordcc.com/track_2.htm
You have to weed out what doesn't pertain to your situation but there is an example of what Randy is saying, the AR-1 feeding each loop and direct wiring in the "double track" area where the loop is pinched at the crossover.
DCC_Dogbone by Edmund, on Flickr
Alan Gartner Diagram
Alan Gartner shows a double crossover but the wiring would be the same.
Good Luck, Ed
OP said he is doing this with 2 #6 turnouts, thus it will be a reversing section in one direction only. One AR-1 should do the trick. Having said that OP would be wise to look at Ed's drawing and consider giving himself the flexability of reversing in both directions.
The OP is half way there. This is how Mel did his double crossover with 4 #6 turnouts
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-25-2012-my-double-crossover.html
As others have stated, without a track diagram it is difficult to give you a definitive answer. And, as Randy has pointed out, you may not even have a reversing section. Or, if you have a dogbone configuration with a single crossover in the middle, it may be best to treat each end loop as a reversing section, requiring two auto-reversers instead of one.
That said, you state that the single crossover on your layout sets up a reversing section at the entry to the crossover. Here are two ways to deal with such a reversing section, although they are not the only ways.
The key is to isolate the reversing section from the non-reversing portion of your layout. To accomplish this, you need to place gaps in the track at various points. In the first diagram above, you would need three pairs of gaps (A, B, C) to completely isolate the reversing section inside the gaps. If you wish to include the entire crossover as part of the reversing section, you would need four pairs of gaps (A, B, C, D).
As others have stated, it is best to broaden the reversing section so that it is longer than the longest train passing through it. So, that might require extending the gaps further down the mainline tracks.
Once the reversing section is isolated, any and all feeders inside the reversing section should be wired to the output side of the auto-reverser. The wiring from the input side of the auto-reverser should be connected to the main bus.
Rich
Alton Junction