Experimenting with reverse loops

The design of this layout includes 2 reverse loops to turn trains around in the staging yard at the west end of the layout.  For those not familiar with reverse loops, here is a LINK to an article that explains it well. As I am moving along on the staging yard I realized that I have had very limited experience working with reverse loops.  I decided to use my already existing temporary layout that is on a shelf above my work bench to get that needed experience.  The layout uses Kato Unitrack so the changes would be easy.

There are several products available to work with a DCC system that handle the polarity switching that has to take place.

As I had already worked with DCC Specialties PSX-1 circuit breakers and have been quite happy with them, I decided  to order their PSX-AR reverse loop circuit breaker to experiment with. This products senses the short that occurs and does the switching before the short gets to the DCC system.

I thought the simplest way to make a reverse loop would be to put a crossover in the middle of the loop.  But as I soon found out, this is actually two reverse loops and my test engine would stall when crossing the gaps.


Realizing that as long as there was a standard non reversing section in the middle, both reverse loops could be connected to the same PSX-AR.  So the next configuration was a double crossover as shown in the drawing below.  What I really liked about his arrangement was that it is almost identical to what is at Wesso junction and will be modeled on the main layout.

In this configuration the single engine ran fine through any turnout configuration but when I started a second engine it caused the stalling problem whenever both reached gaps at the same time.

So next a second PSX-AR was added as shown in this drawing.  Same test done with two engines running independently.  This time no hesitation when both were crossing the gaps at the same time.


The existing temporary layout had consisted of an oval that used 11 inch radius curves.  The layout shown in the drawings above used 9-3/4 inch radius curves and fit inside that existing layout.  Then I added a double crossover connecting the two loops and also added a siding along the back of the outer loop so there ends up being quite a bit of track in the small space.

Here's a view of the central part of the modified temporary layout where all the turnouts are.   Beyond this on either side is a double track balloon end.  I've been running up to three short trains at a time to test everything.  There can still be a stall if one engine is leaving a reverse loop section at the same time another engine is entering the same reverse loop section.

All three PSX circuit boards are mounted on a scrap of plywood on the wall under the layout to make it easier to see the status LED's on the boards.  There is also a provision on these boards to connect remote LED's as well as many other features that I have not yet explored.

First completed section of LED lighting

It's been a few months since I've updated what was going on with the LED lighting but I have been sporadically working on this so here's an update.

I found the type of power supply I wanted on ebay for about $6.50 including shipping.  They are rated at 5 amps but plan to only load them at 50% of capacity.

This is inside one of the cabinets that are above the layout.  When I built the room I placed several of these outlets around the room that are controlled by a wall switch separate from room lighting.

When I set up the first few of the panels I had made up with 5 LED modules, it was way too bright.  So I removed 2 of the modules reducing the lighting by 40%.

Shown here is a completed 10 ft long section of LED lighting using 24 LED modules mounted 3 each on 8 panels.

As I have worked on the staging yard the first section of LED lights under the cabinets have been used to light the area so they've gotten a good testing.  So far, so good.

Here is the front on view of part of the area covered by this lighting.  The upper deck is where going to be where the cloud sky board is located.  Lately I have been using this area to photograph items for ebay listings.

The staging yard is below that and is shadowed by the upper deck so it will have need to have it's own lighting mounted to the bottom of the upper deck.

The blue strip below the cabinets is a test valance I made from tempered hardboard.

Staging yard control panels

Now that most of the track and turnouts are in place on the lower or Southern Pacific section of the staging yard, I am beginning to get serious about wiring and controls.  These days it is getting more common to use computer controls and while I'm open to that, I still like an actual switch or indicator as opposed to a computer screen for an operator interface.   I actually enjoy this part of the hobby and have built a number of control panels over the years for my own layouts, was well as club projects.  Here are some of those.

Here is what's left of the control panel I built for the Los Angeles Terminal District layout.  The track layout was made from styrene strip glued onto a plastic panel.  The box was made from scraps of birch plywood.

The holes on the bottom of the box were for several connectors that went to the power supply and the 5 modules of the layout.   The plastic panel just sits on the top inside the box without being held in place by screws so access to the inside was easy if needed.

Here is view of the California Northwestern layout showing it's control panel.  This one was done on Plexiglas by taping the track layout, painting the back gray, then removing the tape and painting white.  The whole thing was made into a pull out drawer and the power supply and DCC system was inside but easily accessible.

Last year I built this control panel for one of my Ntrak modules.  It's contained in an aluminum box that is mounted on the module.  The track layout is printed on paper that is sandwiched between the box and a sheet of Plexiglas.




For this staging yards controls I am using some elements from each of the above examples.  I am really hooked on the idea of printing a track plan because it's so neat, can be changed, and a spare can be used as a pattern for drilling the holes in the Plexiglas needed for switches and LED indicators.

As this staging yard is actually two yards, I decided to make two separate control panels and made two birch plywood boxes for them.  Each box will mount an 11 inch by 5 inch Plexiglas panel.  There is an angle to the front of the box.  The panel will sit inside and two 4-40 size screws will hold the panel to the aluminum brackets that are near the bottom.  Because of the angle, the top of the panel is held by the box frame.

Here are both boxes temporarily mounted about where I plan to have them.  The Plexiglas panels have been prepared and sample track drawings placed behind them.  They stick out just a bit but all the tracks are still an easy reach.

There will be other control panels around the layout but those will be smaller and will be built into the fascia.

Installing fascia on the staging yard

I have often read in magazines about layout builders using Masonite or tempered hardboard for layout or lighting fascias but had never worked with it myself so I though it was high time that I expand my horizons and give it a go.

Around the balloon part of the yard where the return loops are, I installed a number of gussets that the fascia could be attached to in addition to the edge of the base.

With the yard sitting on edge it was easy to apply some carpenters glue, set the strip in place then attach with my pneumatic stapler.  After filling the stable marks with Spackle and sanding, the fascia will be ready for paint.

So far in all my testing of the yard with various type of cars, nothing had fallen from the layout.  But I just as an extra precaution I decided to leave a small raised edge on the fascia as the return track on the lower yard runs close to the edge.  I tested it with a short high cube box car as they seem the most top heavy.




Overall I am pleased with the result and found the tempered hard board to be easy to work with.  This bit of fascia is just a start as there will be an estimated 80 feet of layout edge and maybe some 60 feet of light valances needed as the layout progresses.  In the parts where there is more than one deck, the fascia for the upper deck will be extended to be the lighting valance for the lower deck.

In other progress on the staging yard, the return loop bridge for the upper yard has been painted and installed, and cork road bed has been started for the upper yard.  Evidence of some of this can be seen in these photos.  More later.

Add a terminal strip to a Tortoise turnout motor

In the past when installing these Tortoise turnout motors, I had soldered all 8 wires to the PC board edge connector on the Tortoise then ran those to a terminal strip for later connection to the controls.  This time I wanted to simplify things a little by having a terminal strip right on the turnout motor.

The PC board that sticks out of  the bottom of the Tortoise has 8 holes that correspond with the edge connectors that are on the other side.  After measuring the spacing between the holes at about 3.8mm I found a terminal strip I could mount directly to the turnout motor.

Kobiconn P/N P02EK381V8 is an 8 position PC board mounted terminal strip with a pin spacing of 3.81mm.  I ordered mine from Mouser Electronics.  Their catalog # for this item is 158-P02EK381V8-E and they were $2.33 each.

By straightening and then re-bending every other post on the terminal strip, the post can be made to align quite nicely with the holes on the Tortoise PC board.

This photo shows how the posts will look after all of them have been re-aligned as described above.  The posts that were re-bent are the ones with the blue arrows.

After doing just one or two, I was able to do this very quickly and get them to fit perfectly in the holes.  Once soldered they were solidly mounted to the PC board.

Here is the finished installation of the terminal strip with all 8 of the post soldered to the PC board.

I am always concerned about being able to access things on the layout.  This photo shows the orientation of the turnout motor the way one is done in my previous post.  The screw heads are pointed down and the wire holes are pointed out the end.

Here's another photo showing the orientation of where the wires will connect and also the terminal strip screws when the turnout motor is mounted vertically under the layout.

Customized turnout linkage

Over the years I've used many Tortoise turnout motors with some having served on 3 different layouts or modules. Most of these don't get installed in the conventional way, with the wire going up through the deck to the throw bar.  I often mount them upside down and use .030 diameter piano wire traveling through 1/8 inch square tube to carry the movement to turnout.  Examples of this can be seen in the recent post First trains run in staging yard.

On this most recent install on the entry end of the main staging yard I needed to mount the motor on it's side to keep clearance above and below.  I was having trouble transferring the motion correctly from the Tortoise wire to the wire connected to the throw bar.  I decided some sort of hinge was needed to connect the two.

The hinge I came up with consist of a pair of brass strips with small square brass tubing soldered along most of it's length.  The area with no tubing has a 4-40 screw and nut which creates the pivot point between the two.  The piano wires fit into the square tubes with the one from the turnout throw bar being bent at the point where it exits next to the nut.

Here is a view from underneath the layout so the placement of the L bracket and the angle that the Tortoise is attached to can bee seen.

Yesterday finished building another turnout and it seems like the best one yet.  It will be used to connect two more of the staging tracks and it's motor will be mounted in a similar way as this one.                                                                                                                  

First two staging tracks completed

After finishing my latest Fast Tracks turnout I was able to connect two of the staging tracks at the entry end of the staging yard and run test trains through the full length.  The line was temporarily extended onto the surface that will support the helix with Kato Unitrack.

The Unitrak was connected to the Atlas track by making the adapter shown here.

The molded roadbed section was cut from part of a section of Unitrack then some Atlas ties were slipped onto the rails.





I am still learning about building turnouts.  While the Fast Tracks jig is very helpful in setting up the turnout, I have learned to check throughout the turnout with the NMRA track gauge and make any fine adjustments needed to bring it into spec.  The plan is to get lots of practice building the code 80 turnouts for the yard then having that experience when it gets to building the code 55 ones for the scenicked parts of the layout.

I purchased some larger ties that are .060 thick to match the Atlas ties and placed them in several spots between the standard Fast Tracks ties.  A wider .030 thick tie was used as the throw with the width to handle the wire hole without breaking.  I am also making the guard rails longer.

Several different trains have been pushed and pulled back and forth on both routes of this turnout many times today.  I think this turnout may be my bet one yet.  The next one will finish the pair of staging tracks shown now in this photo as cork.

Temporary layout

I've always tried to have a layout of some kind over the years even if it's just a test loop on a piece of plywood.  Shortly after I dismantled the old California Northwestern in December 2013, I re-used the plywood shelf from that layout to make a test track above my work bench.

I've always had some Kato Unitrack around for about the past 10 years for use in temporary displays or projects.  This is the first long term use I've done with it.  While it has generally has preformed well I am still reminded from time to time that it is still sectional track.   I am only using one power feeder and will sometimes notice a drop in the speed of a locomotive in some of the sections furthest from that feeder.

I recently purchased a new camera that has a panorama function and wanted to try it out.  On the left is a Digitrax Super Chief DCC system and on the right is their older Big Boy system along with a Tomix power pack.  I use all these to program and test locomotives.  At the top right edge of this photo can be seen some more Ikea cabinets.  These will be almost all the way around the layout room by the time all the layout bench work is done.

Another thing being tested here is that this is about the height the layout will be when it gets around to this part of the room and I wanted to see how the work bench area would work out with the layout right above it.  So far, no problem at all.  When the layout does get to a point where it will replace this temporary layout, I'm sure the materials from this will be recycled again into another project.

Staging yard track gaps

Although this layout is going to be run with DCC, I still need to have some separation of sections in the layout for power districts and reversing loops and in the staging yard I wanted to isolate all of the staging tracks from each other.  In the past I had done this by using insulated rail joiners but this time I wanted to try something different.

At a local electronics surplus store I purchased several scraps of .060 thick printed circuit board that were about 1-3/8 inches wide by 12 inches long.  I then cut these into 5/8 inch sections as shown in this photo.

Then using a triangular file I file through the copper clad about in the middle in each direction leaving a pattern of 4 quarter sections as shown in this photo.

The plastic ties were removed from enough of the flex track to expose enough of the rail to reach the gap in the PC board.  I also drilled small holes in these plates to accept track nails.  When I started to install feeder wires I found out that these are also handy places to solder those to.



At this point I have these installed at the loop end of each staging track for a total of five.  While I am still de-bugging a few things on the turnouts, these rail gaps have been 100% derailment free.