Moonman posted:Aaron,
I have attached a color coded diagram of the plan in blocks of ~10-12 feet for DCS wiring. The easiest way with FasTrack is to add-in a 1 3/8" where you the blocks to begin and end and pull the jumper wire on the center rail wire. That provides an connection point for each new block and separates the previous.
You need the center rail broken. The outside rails can be contiguous common or U.
It is easier to have yards connected, but parked engines receiving power and DCS signal will have the hour meter and maintenance timer running. Gunrunnerjohn came up with a way to put a yard on a toggle switch for power on/off and keep the DCS watchdog signal simultaneously.
The left or west side is a natural for the reverse loop. The right side a little tighter to decide a route.
Ok, and by isolating each one of these blocks electrically, I assume I will also need toggle switches for each block to turn them "on" or "off", and two terminal blocks: one for the elevated loop (this will be a mix of DCS and conventional engines) and the other for both lower loops (since they're both DCS loops)? Or, will I need one block for each loop of track? Since I'll only need a couple of feeders per loop, I suppose the MTH 12-port strips are overkill, except for the inner loop with the yard portion-- a feeder for every spur, and I think I will have a separate toggle panel for the yard. What might you use in place of the 12-port strips?
I do like the idea of relocating the yard, but I think I'd like to keep the yard separate from the mountain scene. I had planned on doing a high amount of detail on the mountain with plenty of rock molds, etc. I plan on building the third, all-elevated loop around the mountain with supports in the visible areas.
