A Reverse Loop Headache, Problem Solved!

Well after trying to run some double headed power with a train around the reverse loop, I was still having intermittent problems with a short in the location where the turnout off the main leads into the short section of track and the crossing for the interchange track. If I ran the locomotives uncoupled but, still consisted, there was no problem and then sometimes with them coupled there were no problems. I thought maybe a short through the couplers and the locomotive frames may have been a possibility. There were no problems with a single four axle unit or six axle unit running through. With more discussion with a friend, it was determined that there was just to much going on in that area and the DCC Specialists auto reverser couldn't keep up with it all, plus the transition from the turnout to the crossing isn't the most favorable one. This makes a case for me to learn how to make a hand laid crossing here sometime in the future with the correct angle to further smooth out the transition. It was kind of tough to get that short little section of track to curve the way it needed to. After the discussion, it was decided to move the insulated gap from the turnout just off the main to just before the open ended turn out a few feet from the crossing. With fingers crossed, the move was made. The picture below shows the change. The red circle was the old location for the gap and the yellow circle shows the new location for the gap.

After the gap was moved and a little rewiring underneath....success! Everything worked like a champ. Problem solved!

A Reverse Loop Upgrade

I have finally had something that was worthy of posting in the blog. Wiring is one thing that isn't much worthy for posting. Over the last few months that's all that has been taking place on the railroad since the last post. Wiring for power districts 2 and 3 on the bottom level has been completed. For review, power district 3 is the part of the railroad that exits at the bottom of the helix. Power district 2 consists of the trackage with the over and under loop that leads to the expanse over El Paso Yard. If I recall, in a past post I mentioned I wanted to rename El Paso Yard, wellll....I have yet to come up with a name that suits me. Some more research on my part needs to be done. With the beginnings of wiring the final power district on the botton level, (power district 1), I had connected a few drops to the main buss feed and had a short circuit after activating the power in that district, even though the reverse loop trackage was isolated. Turns out the isolated section needed to be expanded or reworked. This turned into a conundrum and a little confusion for me to get the wiring for the track that had been laid in it's at that time configuration.

The photo below shows where the reverse loop trackage comes back to the main with the yard lead,  and the arrival/departure track leads off the turnout ladder which was not part of the reverse loop isolated section. That's where the problem occurred. The ladder along with the turn out back to the main are circled in red. I should have taken a better picture but the trackage is no longer in this configuration and this is the only photo I had before changes were made.

The short occurred on the short section of track between the double slip turnout and the turn out off the main circled in blue in the picture below.

I knew that I had to extend the reverse loop isolated section to this point but the other problem was that then the lead track to the yard and the arrival/departure track leads would have to be isolated as well. It occurred I needed some advise, so I gave a good friend of mine a call to explain my confusion and predicament. After a few hours of discussion a solution was born. What needed to be done was remove the double slip turnout, circled in blue in the picture above, and replace it with a regular turn out for the interchange yard, in the foreground of the picture, thus still allowing access to the interchange for the yard operator's switching duties. The turn out off the main would be moved down, toward the camera, and a new track would diverge from it with a crossing at the interchange yard lead. 

The picture below shows the configuration as it is now with the added section circled in red.

This configuration allowed for the yard lead and arrival/departure leads to be separate from the reverse loop both physically and electrically. The track extending out of the red circle diverging off the turnout to the left of the photo is a whole new loop added to makeup the reverse loop. 

The next three photos show the new trackage that make up the reverse loop. The new addition is the innermost track.

The new trackage will serve double duty, not only will it serve as the reverse loop for the continuous run option but, also will be the lead track for industries in this area, which means all trackage connected to this will be part of the reverse loop eclectically. I don't foresee any problem with this as there will only be one operator making switching moves at one time.

The start and end of the reverse loop isolated section are shown in the photos below marked with a red circle at each end of the isolated section.

Hopefully the wiring in this district will be completed soon and trains can traverse the entire layout and efforts can be dedicated to the town industries.