JWH
Thanks for the added ideas.
Knee injury playing basketball last month and I hope to continue my adventure next week, plus its getting cooler in NJ and my layout is in the attic.
I am not using the EZTrack auto reverse turnout which I had from the beginning. I went to flex track with remote Atlas turnouts.
Thanks,
Paul
Paul1261, Let me suggest that you move the two tracks diverging from the diagonal Reversing Section up very close to the top of the layout, & place the second turnout immediately after the one diverging from the Rev Sect This is to insure that all of your trains that you are switching will remain in the Rev Sect (Diagonal track) and will prevent potential shorting or activation of the Auto Reversing mechanism, as mentioned in earlier contribution. Looks like you're ready to go; good luck & Happy MRRing....JWH
Paul, if you are going to use regular flex track, instead of the EZ Track, with your EZ DCC Command system, then instead of providing power to the track with the red wires that plug into a EZ Track rerailer, use the other pair of red wires with the bare ends. Connect the bare ends of those red wires to a pair of 14 gauge bus wires.
Rich
Alton Junction
Rich,
Purchased in 2011 EZ-track set which included the EZ DCC Command wireless controller. Had collected track and wireless auto reversing turnouts over time and it worked great! However, realism is the key to a great layout. EZ-Track is great for carpets. I wish I had that when I was a kid at Christmas!
I still billed 1/700 scale model WWII Naval Dioramas and I know how important it is to be realistic.
After speaking with my uncle( 65 years as a Model RailRoader) he recommended to go to standard HO Flex track with cork road beds. The layout was rebuilt salvaged as much track as I could from the original EZ layout (broke about half) and began my new journey.
Totally forgot about the polarity issue so we are starting from scratch with your help. The EZ Track wireless turnouts was great as well as the track connections, just had trouble with the needed radius's and the cost of the track vs. Atlas or Life-like
So here we are.
Paul,
Since you are going to run your layout under DCC power, what you want to do is string a pair of 14 gauge solid wires under the layout, roughly following the oval. Then, you will connect feeder wires, typically something like 22 gauge stranded wire, from the bus wires to your rails. What a lot of us do is solder the stranded feeder wires to the undersides of the metal rail joiners.
Just out of curiosity, what type of DCC system wil you be running, Digitrax, NCE, etc. ?
HI Frank,
Sales Manager: Pharmaceutical Industry.That's all you had to say :I have all that red, black, white green 18 & 22ga wire.
Pint of Guinness is on me!
PAUL
What are you talking about? We still are!! LOL.. In the mean time,,,,see if you can get your hands on,some 14 ga. wire,,two different colors,,,Red,Black,,,,Red,White and so forth and possibly,,22ga wire,or 24ga,to match the colors you choose for the 14ga.wire....You will need them,for the Buss and feeders...
Cheers,
Frank
It was allot easier when I was a kid.
What you describe,,,is not Buss wires,,not at all what Rich is asking..I'll let him handle the answer,,,rather than have too many hands in the POT..
Hi Rich,
My layout is in the attic and the only place the Mrs. would allow. We had a cool patch at the beach in NJ for a few days now we are back to humidity and Heat. I ordered the Digitrax AR1 since it was not in stock. as soon as the weather breaks I will act on your great suggestion.
I have two types of bus wires; an Atlas (2wire screw connect) and the EZ-Track ReRailer w/red wire plugin connector on both ends go to the E-Z Command Dynamis Wireless DCC Controller.
Paul, while you are waiting for the auto-reverser, there are some things you can do to ready your track.
The most important thing to do is to desolder the rail connection at the end of each divergent track on those two turnouts. Once the rail connections are freed up, make sure that the section of diagonal track (the reversing section) in the center of your layout is no longer connected to the oval. Then, make sure that your trains do, in fact, run on the oval portion of your layout. That will verify the existence of a reverse polarity problem, and it will also prepare your layout for the installation of the plastic rail joiners and the auto-reverser.
The other thing you can do is to prepare for wiring the reversing section. I assume that you are using a pair of bus wires on your DCC layout with feeder wires coming off the bus wires to your rail connections. If so, you should disconnect any feeder wires from the bus wires that are used to connect to any track inside the reversing section. Those feeder wires will need to be re-routed to the output side of the auto-reverser.
I have plastic rail joiners and once I pick-up the Digitrax I will most likely ask you for advise, again!
.
The idea behind gapping the rails is to isolate the reversing section from the rest of the layout for electrical connectivity purposes.
One way to do it is to use plastic rail joiners instead of metal rail joiners where those red dots are indicated in the track diagram.
Another way to gap the rails is to cut the rails with a Dremel or razor saw.
Once you pick up a Digitrax AR-1 at your LHS, we can advise you on the wiring.
Since you are running a DCC-powered layout, are you running feeder wires to the track off of a pair of bus wires?
When we are speaking about rail gaps is this special "track Gap" I purchase? I looked at the website for Digitrax and downloaded a drawing and instructions and they referred to a gap with no RR ties?
Sorry.
Paul, that is correct. For this purpose, that other turnout on the horizontal track won't matter.
Here is the same track plan with the red dots marking the position of the rail gaps at the divergent ends of the two turnouts that feed that center track. Assuming that your entire train will fit inside that gapped section of track, which is the reversing section, you will only need one auto-reverser, and a Digitrax AR-1 will be fine for that purpose. If your longest train will not fit inside that reversing section, then a single Digitrax AR-1 will still be sufficient, but the gapping locations will be different. Let us know.
Incidentally, those two horizontal tracks will be part of the reversing section, no harm there.
Hello Rich,
Thanks....I trying to put two kids through college and I thought this would be my fun time to reduce the stress of that and work.
There is one more turnout on the horizontal track which ends with two bumpers into a rail yard. but this should not matter?
You can bother Rich,,He likes it....If you only have one reverse loop,you only need one AR,,,In your case,a track plan,,would be extremely helpful,,in making sure..
First of all, don't feel like you are imposing by coming back for more help. That's what we are here for.
Second, maybe we can shortcut this process. I looked at your avatar, and I re-worked the earlier track diagram. It was a little difficult to clearly view your track plan from the avatar, but is this an accurate representation of your track plan?
Hope fully this will be the last time.
I could not attached a JPEG or Adobe drawing to illustrate my layout. regarding the Digitrax AR1 do I need 1, 2 , or 3 ?
My profile Image was the only way to attach layout. if you can show me how to attached a file, I will do so.
Thanks
Thanks Frank.. hobby store we go
I appreciate the help. I designed the layout based on the space I had.unfortunately I forgot a crucial step.. to see if it was viable.
I have DCC-Command controller with sound on my locomotives. I like the EZ-track but it was limited in the radius & remote-wireless turnouts. Returned it for standard HO . Hobby store trip this week and I'll let you know.
THANKS!!!!
Rich,is correct,,,,what you describe,from Atlas is for DC,common rail wiring,with their components,,,,,common rail wiring will not work on a DCC layout...If you have a DCC layout,the two AR's he suggested,are perfect,for your application...
If you are operating your layout in DCC, and if you have a reverse loop on your layout, you should consider a DCC-powered auto-reverse unit such as the Digitrax AR-1 or the DCC Specialties PSX-AR.
I am not familiar with the units that you just specified, but they may be intended for DC layouts.
Hi Rich Part3
This Selector is an Electrical Control Device Designed for Layouts of Any Scale by Atlas Model Railroad.
Product Features
Product Specifications
Part II
Automatically reverses train direction without the need for track switches, optical sensors, special lights or other devices. Operates on any 12V DC power supply. Unit is less track. Can be used for automatic single or multitrack point-to-point operation, a wall or bookcase mini-layout or display track for your favorite locomotive or a test or break-in track. Can be used to automatically operate a multitrack logging
I attached a auto-reverse switch where I get most of my stuff
Automatic Reversing Unit - HO-Scale
Product Number: PRL525
Manufacturer: Peerless Industries
If the light is blinking fast there is a short circuit somewhere. Do you have a wye or a reverse loop?
Just realized this thanks for your help.