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If it's not obvious that you have a reverse section, or where it might be, or whether or not it can be moved to a different location, the following information might help. First, you will need a drawing of your track plan. Actually, you may need two, three, or more before you're finished. Ideally, the drawing will only show one line for the track, not both rails. If the one you have already shows both rails, that's OK - it will still work. So, start by making a couple of copies of the track plan before you start - which behooves you to make your drawing on one or more 8.5" x 11" sheets for easy copying. Use the copies to mark on, so you can keep the original pristine for making more copies if you need them. |
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The track plan shown at left is
simplistic so it won't get too cluttered while showing you this technique. |
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The extra lines, for the
second rail, will be drawn dotted to be able to tell them apart from
the original lines. I suggest you use a red pen to draw the second rail
in. |
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Start anywhere, and draw in the
second rail with your red pen. Below you can see that we've draw the
second rail in for the complete loop (with our dotted line). |
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When we try to draw the dotted
(red) line in for the crossover, it becomes apparent that there is a
polarity problem - because the dotted line has to cross over the solid
line in order to come out on the dotted line side at the other end. |
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This means that there has to be
a reverse section somewhere. It's obviously in the crossover. But, as
we discussed in the "expanding the reverse section" before,
it can be moved if necessary. |
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For many people with
dog-bone designs, the solution is two reverse sections, as shown at
right. |
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This allows them to have as many
crossovers (even double crossovers) in the middle as they like, without
having to contend with a reverse section at every one of them. Doing
so also moves the reverse sections to locations where there is more
room to accommodate them. |
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This allows them to
have as many crossovers (even double crossovers) in the middle as they
like, without having to contend with a reverse section at every one
of them. Doing so also moves the reverse sections to locations where
there is more room to accommodate them. |
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Note that this requires the layout to be wired a little differently to start with. Instead of wiring it as one large loop, the lower section is wired backwards to what it was before, with the dotted (red) line at the bottom like at the top of the loop. This is why it's important to identify where you will be placing your reverse sections before you start doing your track wiring. If your layout is as simple as these illustrations, you have no need to draw red rails in to see where the reverse sections are, or see the alternatives. So when you start drawing on your track plan, you may find that you make a mistake or two - crossing the original line when turning at turnouts when you weren't supposed to, for example. For this reason, it's important that you trace your lines from both directions. Once you do it one way, turn around and do it again, starting from a different point, and do all the loops and crossovers in a different sequence. This is why you will need at least two copies to start with. And when you make a mistake, you'll want to re-do it on yet another fresh copy so you don't get mixed up with erased lines that don't quite get erased. If the place you find that needs a reverse section is in a precarious place, try drawing yet another one, with the idea in mind to force the reverse section elsewhere. Many times you can draw a precarious place in first without the reverse section, which will force the reverse section to another location. Keep trying it until you can get the reverse section into a more suitable location. Also, if you have two or more reverse sections, you can sometimes draw other plans that can force two reverse sections into one, as was previously shown with a circle between the parallel mainlines. And if you have trouble nailing this down don't hesitate to mail a copy of your track plan to us so we can figure it out for you. |
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