Just like the title says, will it work with turnouts? I am thinking about setting up my point to point upper layout with an LGB auto-shuttle kit but before I do I want to know if it will work with turnouts along the route. It currently has passing sidings at the end point, I was thinking to isolate one end with insulated joiner and keeping the block control switches, but thats dependent on how fussy is the shuttle? For it to work does the track need to be straight forward or do I have some wiggle room here. See plan to follow
Here we go again!
Why don’t you just go for it anyway and have another “Aaa Haaa” moment?
I prefer not throwing things against the wall, switches are like ninja stars btw.
That size switch certainly is.
However back in the day when I was about 12ys old my 10yr old brother and I used to use a can opener and cut the the tops off of a 48oz Hi C can with punch holes on either side that mom threw away. We would then throw them against the wooden shed out back.
Now that was a wicked ninja star!
Ah, many a cut finger memory there. As kids, food tasted better without the awful taste of Bactine on my fingers
sure. as long as you only build them, without using them.
meaning: while in shuttle mode, the trains can enter the sidings, but can not stop nor return.
unless - you make the same isolated ends of rail in each siding as well.
As long as you have the diodes correctly mounted in the “end” pieces/spurs, nothing along the way matters. You can set your passing sidings however you like and the trains will go through them as they would without the auto-shuttle. And, you can use diodes to “protect” multiple ends/spurs just by routing the train to them to add variety.
If the power reverses when the train is enroute, it will just reverse from where it is at.
But be forewarned. Running big stuff backward (i.e., pushing it) is a receipt for disaster.
I’m not sure but I don’t think Vic has any thing bigger than 8 inches in his entire collection of big stuff
Todd did not define “BIG” so we cannot jump to conclusions yet!
i think, Amtrack passenger cars could fall into the “big” category.
Nothing big will run on upper level, only short cars and locos, and I’m limiting trains to 2 cars if I go with the shuttle, which I probably will. Also giving the lower loop extension which will house the pizza layout a new think. No building yet, need to clear out a bunch of stuff first.
Well Korm as horrid as it may sound Vic has been known to run Amtrak!
oh, i didn’t know, that Vic had built a track motor car in Amtrak livery…
was it a 2-2-0 ?
do you plan to run the shuttle by hand or automatized?
Automated, turn on and forget. Need to download the 10345 instructions from the web. I will also have to begin modifying the track to isolate the passing tracks at each end. Of course this is all after I put down ballast.
oh… i didn’t notice before.
my shuttle system is LGB 80090. (for which i found only a german description)
what i noted, is that the diodes on the split-rail trackpieces that came with it, are waay smaller, than those in the loop-set.
anyhow, if your’s is similar to mine, the additional sidings should be all in the same direction - away from the electronic.
but there is another possibility in the LGB manual. only thing it lacks is the timer for the stops.
If I’m pushing a train in an outdoor environment and there are a bunch of guests standing around watching things run themselves, anything with double axles is “BIG”. Even a single engine pushing a single Bachmann Sierra coach with added weights at the trucks can give you problems.
I have three lines I run as point-to-point. One runs a Hartland railbus (no coaches), one runs an AristoCraft railbus (no coaches) and the third is a mine line and the five railcars (four ore cars and a tank car) are only two axles and about 6" long, and even they can have problems with no curves being less than 8 foot diameter.
well, i know all you guys only from pics - but i must say, the guy in this pic resembles strongly with the pics of a certain destroyer of red boxes.