Good morning

I am seeking a solution to run 3 trains on one large loop.

A friend of mine is building a layout with a large loop. His table size is 7m x 2m, and he is building a layout where the trains run on a single main line three times around the table before they reach the start point of the loop again. He is using a system of inclines and bridges and tunnels to create a multi-level main line where the track running distance is probably about 50m. There is only one place where there is a branch and that place is at the station platform, where he has 2 lines at the station. The lines join into a single main line again after the station.

He is using CS3+, and he has a number of trains which he would like to use as he feels like it on the day. Sometime steam trains, sometimes electrics, etc. He has a small bypass staging yard in order to keep some trains in a staging yard, and then he would bring them out to the main line as he feels like running them.

The problem which he would like to solve is that he does not want the trains to catch up with the train in front of it. He wants to let the three trains run on the main line without having a collision. And he doesn't want to be manually adjusting the speeds of the trains, so he wants some automation to do that for him.

I am thinking that the station area would be a good place to regulate the trains. Use the two platforms to allow trains to come in to the station and then release them as required.



I would be grateful for your suggestions for an elegant solution to his problem ?
Which hardware should he buy to achieve this ? (Signals, s88, circuit tracks, brake modules, etc)

Regards
John

Hi John
Using a CS3 and C track makes it very easy to make a block system:
- insulate one of the rails over a length's block (a few meters in your case)
- connect the insulated rail to a S88 entry (60881 or 60883)
- install at least 4 signals commanded by the CS3 and a specific "event" so that when a detection occurs in the few meters past of each signal the event turns the signal to red and green when it is freed.
- each signal, of course switches ON and OFF the stop section just before them
- optionally you may install a brake module so that the stopping of locos is less brutal (but significant wiring added)

With a software like Rocrail you can do the same BUT:
- no need for brake module as the speed control is much smoother, the cost is reduced and the corresponding wiring is gone.
- simplified wiring: no need for stop sections: all the locos remain with light and sound, no more switching off the inside lighting of cars
- any train can operate as a shuttle train (loco behind, pushing the train)
- it is preferred to have two detections (one to slow down to station speed and another to gently stop the train. It also works very well with one detection
- automatism possibilities are WAY WAY more powerful
- the cost? only a cat5 cable and donating what you want when you want. If your PC has no Ethernet plug then add a router (or better a WiFi router). That way, at no additional cost i can drive my trains from my old iPhone.

Here is my setting with a home-made folding tablet



Cheers
Jean

On our ETE-ENE club layout we have run as many as six consists with a CS3+ and a CS2 slave on a single loop. Actually with a CS3 you can control as many as eight decoders but no longer have the layout displayed. Consists are prevented from running into each other by blocks. You could use a station stop as a way to control three trains on a single loop but the three consists would not be running on the loop at the same time. Two would be in stations while one ran. The advantage of that would be the ability of running the trains in opposing directions while the stop block requires the trains to run in the sane direction. So it depends on what you want.

In Marklin Digital Newsletter Volume 31 #2 Rick Sinclair described how to create blocks and controls using an M84, an MS2 and circuit tracks but the basics can apply to a CS3, an S88 and contact tracks. But once again the single track loop must have trains running in the same direction. It is possible using the Event feature of the CS3 to run trains in opposite directions. It would just be a matter of very detailed programming.