best way to plan for reverse sections

[ndbprr]

Layout will be PRR corridor around North Philadelphia station. Six tracks with three eastbound and three westbound. Dogbone style with loops having twelve staging tracks at either end. Margie yard will be off the westbound outside track. Locals to switch eastbound industries will cross at N. Philly interlocking and return. Will I be better off to reverse the power at the interlocking or have all six tracks be wired identically and reverse the staging loops? Thank you for input.

[zstripe]

In my 64 years of playing with trains and wiring, I'm DC, but DCC is basic the same wiring, is planning to avoid shorts, not create them and that is all a reversing loop section is. A planned short. So I avoid them like the plague. My experience only!

Frank

[Texas Zepher]

ndbprr

Dogbone style with loops having twelve staging tracks at either end.

You say dog bone, and then seem to describe a loop-to-loop.  A true dog bone would not need any special consideration for reversing unless you put a crossover between the two 'mains'.

A diagram would help, but If I understand what has been described, I think I would recommend reversing the loops to isolate each "reversing" action to exactly 1 train entering or exiting the loops.

I guess it would also depend on:  where the split for the staging tracks occurs, how much crossover action is going on, and where the crossovers are located.

 

[BroadwayLion]

If you have loops used as storage it is easy. You only get power from the switch that is algined to the yard, and not from the other one. Obviously the switches must be contrived so that both cannot be set to the yard at the same time. On a single track, that is a gimmie. On a dual track, it is not a reversing loop. Power should not go through a yard, but only to tracks that are aligned to the mane lion. Otherwise, off they should be.

DESIGN THE INTERLOCKING PLANT with its levers or switches on paper. Design it according to the rules pertaining to an interlocking plant. It should work right out of the plan. If not find the issue and fix it. Make sure each segment works as expected before moving on to the next segment.

Wiring of LION is straight forward and wroks purrfectly!

[ndbprr]

Each of the three loops at each end will have four storage tracks with a double pole switch to turn off power for each track. There will be four to six locals per session crossing from the yard to the far track. That seems to me keeping the polarity the same for all six parallel tracks makes more sense then wiring the tracks as loops with the interlocking section being reversible. Just wanted to confirm my thinking.