Hi Vince,all,



Thanks for sharing youse guys layout photos!
A few questions before the experts chime in,.....

Your running the whole she-bang with a CS2?
You are going wire it above the shadow station baseboard?

Two things to consider,IMVHO,....1)contact sections before and after the storage tracks in the shadow yard.
2) make the whole length of storage tracks contact sections.


Dr D

I agree.
You can not have too many sensors and I prefer to monitor all sections of track when and where possible.
Contact switches are really just showing a small area of information, lots can happen from one contact switch to another.
Monitoring all pieces of track by isolating one of the running rails and connecting sections of track to a single S88 input makes for a very detailed monitored track system.

No I have not experienced any performace issues, I have installed feeder wires about every 8 to 10 sections of track.
Copper is cheap, use more than what you think is engineered required and you will have no problem.
I am not really a fan of following minimum standard.
Overkill is usually a better choice.

Hi all,

>No I have not experienced any performace issues, I have installed feeder wires about every 8 to 10 sections of track.
Copper is cheap, use more than what you think is engineered required and you will have no problem.
I am not really a fan of following minimum standard.Overkill is usually a better choice.<

Good point Maxi! Like the old saying "When in doubt,power out!"

My former shadow station/yard was 10' long and one rail served as a contact track,no issues(K-track) and I did as Maxi,I dropped feeder wires ever 3'.
In fact,having many feeder wires,even if you don't 'need' them is good idea on a layout.Easy to solder them to your bus then take up the track,solder,....

Dr D

I believe this to be correct - and a very desirable backup for warping track especially any transition in gradient and/or curves.

It will !! (performance issue = stall)
But risk management has to weigh this against the benefits of using the isolated rail for sensing.

Suggestions
- "Work" at laying the track correctly (physically smooth to mitigate rocking locos from loosing contact)
- Don't uses abrasive cleaners that remove the rail protection once rust gets through it will always be an issue.
- If you have to isolate the rail for sensing on a a curve , do it on the inside rail - the loco will tend to tilt towards the outside and that is where you really need the power circuit to be complete
- for small 0-4-0 type devices, maybe with tires (e.g. glastkasten), an additional wire to the carriage chassis may help

In my ideal world I would leverage the current detection method like the 2-Rail guys do(They have no option). but this doesn't work if there is no power to the track. Both methods have there place as does the actual "tracking" of trains around the layout (i.e. prototypical block control and CTC).

Personally I prefer an "out of band" sensing solution where there is no connection between the track power system. e.g. reed sensing, LISSY, etc. But this is never an either/or discussion

Thanks Clapcott,

Some very good advice for us newbies

Brgs - Lasse