Issues with planning a double reverse

Suggestion: do only the center portion with four switches and crossing.  Then, see how much space that takes and what it leaves you with for outside oval and connections to inside oval.  I'm pretty sure inside can be done as desired, but might have to be wider and/or need some custom cut pieces to make it work.

Chuck

This is planning for my expansion, so I'd really like to know what (and how) it's possible before I start the build.

DEUCE,

Attached spreadsheet provides the FasTrack pieces needed to fill a space.  Try placing your 90 degree crossover in the center of the four switches and then measure the distance to see what FasTrack pieces will work. 

Got RR Track fired up now. Give me a little while. I'll work on it. Off the top, probably 90+% it will close.

This is the closest I could come, but I don't know if it will "give" enough for the circled parts to connect.

Deuce - it is possible, see attached.

Deuce,

Here's another version.  It keeps the same dimensions of the outside loop.  The small gaps should be connectable.

Jan

A cleaner version.

Well, already answered. It can be done.

I can email you the RR Track file if it is of use to you. Any questions, let me know.

Thank you everyone for your help! I'll try again with TraxEditor based on everyone's results so see if it was just me, or there is an issue with the software. Glad to know it's do-able though. My plan is to have this FT loop on one side of the room, and then have a length to connect to an O27 railyard/maintenance on the other side (using O54 curves). My thought is to have a wye in the railyard to turn the engines around.

As a leg-up..

The 036 switch comes with a 1/4 curve. You'll want to include them on your route to the center crossover.

Note the two filler pieces between the switches on the inner loop. They are 6-12073. You need these to get the straights to cross-over to line-up. The leg of straights to the cross-over include 6-12014, 6-12024, 6-12026, and (2) 6-12073.

The verticals on your outer loop 6-12014, 6-12024, 6-12026. I couldn't read these directly on your layout image.

As an FYI, most FasTrack sections have the connections for power. You don't specifically need to purchase the track power terminal sections.

I took out one 10" piece on the inner/outer loops between the switches at your crossover. This tightened things up so the crossover would line-up.

Very easy to add 5" sections to the far left/right of the switches to keep the OA size the same. The layout above shows the extra 5" sections and maintains your original dimensions.

Thanks for the assistance again everyone. Tried to recreate it in TraxEditor and things just don't line up, so it's not me (or you) it's the software (or I'm really bad at this). I'm going to go ahead and plan based on the recommendations from this forum, and now proceed to plan the other portions of the railroad (with caution on TraxEditor, or with another software package).

I just signed up for Trax. Is your design available for me to look at there?

DoubleDAZ posted:

I just signed up for Trax. Is your design available for me to look at there?

Search for tducey. I think I made my plans publicly viewable and comment-able (though not edit-able).

This link may work: https://www.traxeditor.com/ind...details&id=13224

I think I'm going to get SCARM.  How much is it for a license?

I found it, but can't edit it, so I'll see if I can reproduce it.

SCARM has a trial version for up to 100 tracks. Here are the current prices for the unlimited licensed version and the full set of simulation extensions.

BTW, your layout only has 82 tracks, so you can try the trial version with the design I posted. After you install SCARM, right-click on the .scarm file in my post and select the Save As or Save File As option to download the file.

Wow! What a tedious package to work with. Admittedly, I didn't read any of the manual, help files, etc., so there may have been ways to do things easier, but I suspect there aren't many, certainly not enough for me to give up SCARM or RR-Track.

Anyway, I got this close, but the program definitely does not match SCARM and I know for a fact that if things connect in SCARM with the default tolerance settings, they will connect with real tracks. My guess is this would connect just fine. 

Just sent you an email with an attached *.BMP file. Hope it helps.

Deuce,

I haven't tried the program you are using, but I can tell you that SCARM was very easy to use, and once DOUBLEDAZ, (Dave) schooled me on a few things I was able to put together some nice basic layouts using just the free version. I ended up buying the licensed version because I couldn't finish what I wanted to with the free, and my final track count was 104 pieces.  

Any how it's fun to play with and now I have the licensed version I'm working on fitting in loco service, two passenger terminals, three industries, and a freight transfer yard