I assume you're running DC.
I've never tried this, but I see no reason that it shouldn't work. Insulate a short section of track at each end of the line on both rails. Wire these sections directly to your DC power supply, with opposite polarity. The polarity of each should be such that the engine moves towards the center of the line. Then, connect the rest of the line to the output of a DCC auto-reverser unit. When the engine reaches the end sections, the auto-reverser will flip the polarity of the main track and reverse the engine.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
When in doubt, check Rob Paisley's site. He has 3 different ones, two of them you can buy the pc boards for, all of them list the parts and schematic so you can build it yourself.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/CircuitIndex.html#Reverse
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I am setting up an N Scale track that I want to operate automatically. It's only 7' long and I want it to be able to stop once, restart and go to the end of the track, reverse it's direction and return to the other end.
I know there are pre made electronics that I can purchase, but I'd like to build the reversing switch myself. I thought I saw an article on it in MR in the past, but I can't find the article, so I could be wrong about that.
Does anyone know how to build such a switch?
DannyDreamer
Fort Myers, FL