tatmaninov

Thanks for engaging with the topic @Dungrange, the diagram was not meant as scale replica of my layout just to illustrate the problem, but I will double check on the good point you make about the proximity of the curves to avoid potential problems. Also not trying to be prototypical, just a bit of fun.

Thanks @Harlequin, exactly the advice I was after, much appreciated.

Thanks for the reply @WIMorrison, eventually I would like to have larger sidings so if I wish to make the isolated section larger do you think it would work to have it between the mark you made and my mark C?

I have attached layout partially built and as you can see there is a turnaround section for which I need to introduce an isolated part of the track to avoid a short, I am just a little unsure where I can put the isolated fish plates and would appreciate some guidance. Would it be at point A and B? Is there another option to have them further apart to accommodate longest loco and powered coaches, perhaps at point B and the three tracks at point C? Layout is DCC, using Z21, plan to use the Z21 multi loop (10797) to manage the short detection etc. I realise this layout is a little limiting as it currently is for example if loco is running clockwise on outer track and goes through turnaround, there is no way for it to turn around again to return to its original clockwise direction. I plan to develop the layout further in the future to address this i.e. another turnaround connected to outer track (not shown in attachment).

Thanks for the reply @Nigelcliffe I assume I adjust so is like this, also point noted to only have one train in the section at any one time.

I am starting to plan a DCC layout and am considering to have a section of single track line (loco's will travel in both directions on single piece of track). For this my initial assumption was that the layouts at either end of this single track would be treated as reversing loops and would need to incorporate an auto reverser for each end. The more I thought about this, I prefer to avoid reversing the polarity of these sections at the end of the single track as they will be fairly large with their own complications, they will not just be simple loops. Also if I have multiple locos on the track and the polarity suddenly switches I assume this will cause problems. So I started to think about rather than connecting the reversing wires to the loops, but connect them to the isolated single track. I show simplified illustrate below (actual sections to right and left will be much larger with multiple points etc.), does anyone have experience of doing something similar and comment if this will work? I have never used an autoreverser before, but I think it will work like this, loco travelling from left hand side reaches point A, polarities match so loco continues uninterrupted. Loco continues through isolated section onto right hand section, again polarities match so loco continues. When loco begins to return from right hand side and enters isolated section at point B, there is now a polarity mismatch so the auto-reverser kicks in and switches the polarity of the isolated section. Then if loco continues and goes right at point A, the polarities match which is fine, but if it were to go left the autoreverser would kick in again to harmonise the polarities. Is my understanding correct and will this work? I am aware I need to make the isolated section big enough to accommodate loco and longest rake of powered coaches. Any hints, tips, wisdom gratefully received.

Great, thanks for the explanation @MarkSG, a lot clearer to me now.

Whenever I am looking at Hornby locomotives I struggle to understand the differences between the sub brands, particularly Hornby Dublo. Whenever I do a google search on Hornby Dublo the results tell me that Hornby Dublo is one of the early brands which later changed to Hornby Triang, and then Hornby Railways. The thing that confuses me is that I see new models for sale today with ‘Dublo’ in the description, these models appear to have new 2023 tooling. e.g. Hornby R30266 Class A4 4-6-2 60007 'Sir Nigel Gresley' in BR express blue with early crest - as preserved - Dublo Diecast - 10 year anniversary of the Great Gathering Ltd Edition Can anyone explain to me a bit more about Dublo to help me understand where this fits in within the Hornby range today, is it a sub-brand? Is it generally higher/lower quality than standard Hornby? Or does this refer to something else entirely? Also taking the opportunity to clarify my understanding of Hornby Railroad, I believe this is lower detail models so generally a bit cheaper? Much appreciated

Thanks all for the detailed responses. My interest in this topic is driven by a desire to build up a collection of locomotives that reflect the evolution of the technology, and have a locomotive representing each significant change, so I think for this purpose I probably should ignore the stated Era (as this appears more livery/running period based) and perhaps look more at design and manufacture date.

I guess that is the answer, the Era is linked to the livery rather than the loco. Thanks @WillCav

As I understand it the Era system is not really an industry standard and different organisations may define define the Eras slightly differently but generally speaking they all seem fairly aligned. I was just wondering what generally contributes to defining what Era a locomotive belongs to. I previously assumed it was based on the date of manufacture but I see examples of this not being the case e.g Class B2 Peckett manufactured between 1905 - 1931, so I would put this in Era 2 or 3, but I see lots of different sources saying it is from Era 6. So I obviously misunderstand the system, can anyone share any nuggets of wisdom to make this clearer for me?

Yes, I think maybe I misunderstood and confused some similar concepts. So it seems ABC is more about automatic braking in a particular zone for example at a station or at the end of a line and not really anything to do with avoiding crashing into other loco's? As the avoidance of loco crashes is my primary concern, it sounds like this is actually more to do with block occupancy detection and as you suggest will need to be supported with some sort of computer control? I have seen the Z21 does support this, so I guess nothing changes with my plan, I just need to be clearer with the terminology of the technogolgy.

Thanks for replies @Harlequin and @jamesed, I have since double checked the spec of the B2 and it actually takes a 6-pin decoder, I think I was getting confused with the W4, which is a 4 pin decoder. Now that I know it takes 6-pin, I think this gives me a few more options. I have now ordered the loco, and once I get it I will see what space is available and find a suitably sized decoder, on first glance at Zimo, I see they have quite a good range, so thanks for the recommendation. @Harlequin, my vision/expectation with the ABC is that I would set blocks in the track and then using block detection a following loco would slow or stop if there was already a loco in the block it wanted to move into, so idea is to keep plenty of space between loco's, please correct me though if that is not how it works.

Thanks for the additional detail, I'll do some more research on that. Appreciate the heads up on DCC-Concepts, I have mainly being considering solutions from Roco and Megapoints. I would like to purchase the Z21, so will probably end up going with Roco.

Thanks for reply @Nigelcliffe, so if I understand correctly your proposal I could potentially solder in a 18 or 21 pin decoder?