Reversing Loop Design

[TomGoodrick]

Here is a diagram of the reversing loop I put at Shelby and at Whitefish. At Shelby it connects at the end of the south track leading east out of town. At Whitefish it connects at the south track leading past the refueling station after you delete the turntable (that does not work). These make it much easier to work in these two yards, to come in with one train and leave with another.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~goodrick/RevLoop.jpg

I don't think it would work well to try uploading all the files affected by this installation. It is probably easier for you to edit in your own.

[leemon]

Thanks for posting this, Tom!

Lee

[RailroadKing]

Tom, great idea there! I think I will go ahead and make that. Did you see my message below on how to name/add mileposts and sidings? Its under your subject Can't Run on My Routes.

[TomGoodrick]

Yes, I saw your post. Thanks very much.

[Hack]

Is this loop design similar to the one currently on Marias Pass?

Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

[woodman]

Yes. I've turned on the balloon loop near the summit and it works well. The original was used to turn plow trains, I believe. SP had a similar setup on Donner. Currently the drill is to use rotaries on both ends.

I still prefer a wye for turning locos.

Mike Woodill
http://www.3dtrains.com

[KingJPW]

I am glad to know that this is possible, since 'circular' paths are not. I will now use a reversing loop at each end of my mainline. I just hope the editor doesn't consider that a circular path also!

Thanks.

[TomGoodrick]

I have been running for several days with this reversing loop in my Marias Pass Folder at both Shelby and at Whitefish. I have had no problems because of it. I can turn locos in each yard to carry trains back over the summit. I turn only the lead engine. A wye would be fine but I could not find the track pieces giving the correct geometry. There are several wye's in the program already, so we know they work fine.

[Holliday]

Is there no chance this could be made available for download by the masses? I personally think this is one of the most fundamental additions I can think of as far as adding utility and function to this simulator. Unfortunately the majority will likely never develop the skills necessary to do this on their own, as the editor is less than intuitive. If it is just impossible I will understand.

[Rick2]

Hi,

I have been experimenting with the editor and created this wye in the Whitefish yard. It works rather well. I'll try your baloon track as well, thanks for the procedre.

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3b24afab729d77c1.jpg

I hope this link works.

Rick

[jim s]

Tom, or anyone

Perhaps Im missing something here (?). But when I try to use the editor to make the loop in Whitefish yard, everythings fine
*except*..... When I highlight the "placement" window, and click
on the 'more', I get all the track objects except for Dynamic Track. Which makes lining things up a little difficult sometimes.

However... If I open up the 'Tutorial' route, or if I start to design my own route, then the Dynamic Track option is there.

Makes no sence, to me anyway. Ive even gone so far as to reinstall TrainSim to no avail :-(

Anyone have any suggestions as to what in the world Im doing wrong ??

Thanks

Jim

[railtester]

Hi Tom, I finally got my loop to work except that when the loco gets back to the switch the screen 'twitches' and I am instantly looking back at the switch. In other words the program flipped the loco around so it is in the position it was when it entered the loop and its going backwards now down the track away from the loop. Oh yes and the manual yard switch I installed to handle the loop will not work; it only alows the loco to turn left into the loop. All the track is 'linked' fine.

Any help would make my day!

Thanks, David

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3b48eb0047fb8f61.jpg

[Skogen]

bump

[Holliday]

I am not the expert here, but I have installed several of these loops and they all work fine. You need to redo the whole thing, this time build it exactly like Tom suggests in the original post above. Yours looks much bigger, and it seems like you managed to build it without using any dynamic track. The game hates circles, and yours looks more circular than Tom’s. That is the only thing I can think of.

[mustangman79]

I had the problem the other day where I couldn't find the dynamic track. I found it though. In the track sections drop-down scroll all the way down to the bottom. That's where it is. I hope that helps.

Joe

[railtester]

Thanks Holliday I do that. I did use several pieces of dynamic track but is is almost a circle. I'll let you know.

Thanks, David

[railtester]

It worked! Thank you SIR! And Thanks to Tom of course.

David

[Holliday]

You mean something I suggested actually worked? Wow.

[bleuzzmann]

Haven't been able to get mine to 'work' just yet...I'm still learning to work with dynamic track and my problem seems to be that even though I look like I have a perfect alignment, my train engine derails at the area of the dynamic track. I believe there must be some kind of radium that I'm exceeding within the dynamic track area that derails the engines. Not sure though and any ideas would help...
bill

[Holliday]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-14-01 AT 03:24PM (EST)[p]When you get to the dynamic track, part what you are doing is creating an “S”. Try to make this as gentle as possible. I try not to pay too much attention to exact radian numbers and such; I just do it by eye. Getting the basic “S” shape is not too hard, as you already know. The trick is in joining the two sections of dynamic track. I too have had a lot of trouble doing this. What follows is what I have discovered:
Swearing does not help, but it makes me feel better.
Don’t punch your monitor.
There are two sets of controls for track length and the radius and angle of the curve. The first set makes large inputs, use that to get the general shape. Inch the two pieces together. As you get close you want to switch to the fine control and make tiny corrections. I try to first get the two sections of track lined up squarely, and then slowly move them together with various combinations of length, radius, and angle adjustments, always using the fine controls. I know this sounds obvious, but it is the way it must be.
This is a frustrating task, made worse by the time involved in testing each attempt. I have done this several times; sometimes I get lucky and it works the first time, sometimes it takes several tries. It always seems to look ok, but you can’t tell until the loop is tested.
Perseverance is the single most useful tool. Once you are successful, save the route before making any other changes. I failed to do this and as a result have had to remake my reverse loops more often than I would have liked. Even with all that practice it is still tricky to get the dynamic track joined up perfectly square.

[railtester]

Here is the result of your help Ed. (By the way I have a Zilpha Knapp in my background, about 1790 - and you! )

David

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3b50e5e51434aa1b.jpg

[KingJPW]

Here is a reversing loop that you might find a bit easier than Tom's original one:

http://communities.msn.com/TheMSTS2x2RouteStandard&naventryid=117

KingJPW

[Holliday]

That looks great railtester. And Knapp is not a very common name either (outside of Germany), so that is kinda cool as well.