Is there danger in having a staging yard being a reversing loop.

[learmoia]

Comment Removed.

[John]

None that I know of .. but why not make one of the approach tracks the reverse track .. 4-5 feet should do it ..

[CodyO]

My staging yard is on its own level feed by a helix I originally was going to make the staging yard a reversing loop but redid it so that that one loop of the helix became a reversing section 

[rsn48]

I know this is an older thread but I'm wonder how the OG-AR worked out for you involving the yard, I'm in the same boat, but about to tackle the reversing loop with OG-AR's?

[wm3798]

Here's the problem.  If you want to have one train entering the loop while another one is leaving, you have polarity switching all over the place if the loop itself is the reverser.  I prefer to have one of the approach tracks, either in or out, be the reversing section, so all the trains in the staging loop are "on the same page", and you can peacefully run trains in and out of staging simultaneously.

As was pointed out elsewhere, if the dude is running lighted passenger consists, the reversing section needs to be as long as the longest PASSENGER train.  Freights don't need any more than a few lengths more than the engine consist.

Lee

[PaulP]

Lee
Don't metal wheels on freight cars also cause a short across the reverse section? So many metal wheels on rolling stock now days. Might it not need to be as long as freight trains also?

Paul

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

No metal wheels are insulated and do not transfer power like a loco or track pick up lit cars do.  This is why you have to stager the track joints of the reverser so that the metal wheels don't cross both rails at the same time. 1/4 inch off set makes sure of that.

[lyled1117]

An older thread I realize, but .....  there should be no issue letting your staging yard be a reverse loop. As others have said you want to place the gaps where two sets can't be crossed simultaneously. I'll add another warning I recommend strongly .....  turn OFF the DC capability of your decoders. While I grant this is less likely to happen than in the past, there are sometimes conditions on power up, short circuit recovery, etc that can cause a decoder to think its on DC track when its on DCC track. It converts to DC and runs away at full speed, no longer listening for DCC commands. Manual intervention or dropping track power are the only ways to stop the runaway.  THE OG-AR is a solid state device and swaps polarity from a short detection faster than you'll ever notice it happening, but there is still a short happening to trigger the reversing action. The relay versions of this device by MRC and Digitrax are a little more prone to the possibility of a runaway. Runaways have become much less common than in the early days of decoders, but it never hurts to totally remove the possibility.

Lyle