I am continuing to work on my layout. I cut the pieces of track to length to make things "fit" and have everything layed out on my platform. To make sure I understand your suggestion above, I color coded the track.
Do I need to segregate the sections (for power) as shown? The outer loop would include the blue and green track. The inner loop would include the orange and gray track. The third loop would include the blue, gray and red track. I could run two trains at the same time - outer loop and inner loop. I think I see that three trains could be run at the same time but two of them would share the gray section of track ( I will have to study that more.)
Do I need to break up some of the sections further so I can park engines/cars (i.e. diagonal leg) or do I just need to add USC sections so I can uncouple cars?
JD2035RR stated above "To separate power districts and blocks, you just need to insert a fiber pin into the center rail where it touches another block. For example, at the top of the plan, where the mainline switches to the inner track, you would place the fiber pin between the two switches. " Do I need to insert insulating pins on the center rail and the two normal legs OR do I insert insulating pins in all rails on the switches?
I plan to locate all of the switch controllers in a row by the transformer. I assume the green light will indicate that the switch is open on the straight leg and the red light will indicate that the switch is open on the turn out. Is that correct?
I also think I need a layout diagram with lights/on-off switches to help me keep up with which sections are powered. Can anyone suggest a combination push button or toggle switch with red/green lights to control power to the track sections? Any good suggestions on how to build this control diagram?
As you can tell from these questions, this is my first attempt to build a layout. All help is very much appreciated. I will try to post a picture of my layout later today.
