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.
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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.
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Note that they are all the same wreck!
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I’m planning to keep the end sidings mostly for storage so they’ll be isolated from the mainline. I need to see how the existing power supply lines will need to be modified. The only drawing I have doesn’t really show what I have in mind unfortunately
Finally got an updated drawing showing how the shuttle route will be configured. I’ve simplified some aspects in favor of the shuttle arraignment. Otherwise everything remains the same.
in my understanding, that can not work.
starting on the upper left side.
a short train with two cars even with your short builds will have near 2.5’ - meaning, the train, when stopping will not clear the switch of the passing siding. making the passing-siding just an inoperable scenic detail. - just the same as the right side siding on the lower right (which would need a diode as well. as would need the siding at the top above the passing siding)
the siding in the upper right corner and the one aiming at the middle of the room seem both too short for my eyes.
my half cent…
The upper left I have moved the diode next to the turnout so that the run is a little longer. The sidings will be for car storage only and I’m only planning to a very short train up there. One short engine maybe two short cars max, two axle stuff. The upper left passing siding will have isolation joiners on one side to separate the siding from the continuous run track. That short siding pointing into the room will eventually contain a connecting track to the lower layout expansion…eventually.
Gee Wiz, Vic …why don’t you just go to battery then.
Figured I would say it before someone else does as I’m gonna get blamed for it anyway!
I just put my little trains on my track outside, plug in my little power pack, then watch them go around and around until I’m happy.
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All my stuff and bashes would require major surgery, probably fatal, to install all the electronic witchcraft necessary. Besides I’m old and grumpy and I’m used to traditional model railroad track power, the LGB stuff is recognizable to me so it’s nowhere as intimidating as Battery RC. All the problems I had outdoors I probably would consider it and may when I rebuild outside but inside I’m going old school 
on that i fully agree with you.
but…
with this, Rooster has a point:
for a “happy roundy-round” you need just one little addition. two grades of about 4% and 15 yards length each to pass from your upper level to above the upper door frame.
your strong, short engines and short trains are predetermined for mountain-goat service. 
A fascinating discussion, on a subject I’m not very versed on. All I know is that on my short back and forth (and it’s not an LGB reverser), the diode across the insulated gap+diode reacts with to the loco’s circuitry – not merely the passing metal car wheels (as with DCC stuff).
So, the location of that gap+diode (if LGB’s system is similar to mine) has everything to do with where the loco stop and reverses, not the cars. (This may be obvious to everyone else, but I’m a slow learner and learned the hard way).
For example, if the engine is always in the front, heading into a siding, that siding’s diode might be placed one loco length from its end.
But if the consist might have any arrangement of loco and cars, the diodes need to be placed as far from the ends as the longest train – as I think Korm was saying.
In other words, which end the loco is on (A, B, or either) is important to consider.
But, like I said, the LGB system might operate differently.
One last point, as I think Todd may have been alluding to, I only used cheap plastic rail insulators and soldered diodes across those gaps. I tested everything out with empty gaps, loose diodes and test wires with alligator clips before soldering everything down.
Vic, you might save some $ rolling your own, vs. buying LGB diode sections.
Again, the disclaimer. As Hollywood would say, “YMMV”. 
Wow, All I can say: Can I get an AMEN !
Well Cliff, since I consider most electrical work to be witchcraft, I think I’ll stick to off the shelf, less chance of me starting a fire with a soldering iron…which has been known to happen
Vic, are you saying there’s associated witchcraft in switchcraft? 
the LGB shuttle electronic for DC is nothing but a electronic double throw switch to change polarity plus a timer to evade that the train starts to reverse before it stops. and it is inserted into the cables between controler and track.
I have met several people over the years that will swear LGB electric systems are possessed by the devil 
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