My Opinion

I would be inclined to make the track from Jack around the loop to Manny be your reversing loop rather than the parallel track as you show. I would insulate all 6 rails at the crossover between Manny and Jack. The length of train is not really important.

If I see this clearly   I

If I see this clearly

I would insulate between Jack and Manny ideally at the far left of the pic as far away from the switches as possible. this should allow the tracks in the middle to be uninterrupted.  This way if your switching a train near manny and want to use the cross overs it will not trip the reversing relay.

I also see you have another reverse loop at the bottom right near. I would isolate the whole crossover track between the main lines.

Hope Im correct in what I am seeing?

... unless you run metal wheelsets ...

I agree with Graeme about the loop to the left of Jack and Manny as a reversing section.  Don't forget about the second reversing loop at the crossover to the right of 'Programming'.   The reason to make the reversing loop long enough to hold the entire train is to keep from over exerting the auto-reverser.  If a set of metal wheels bridge the insulating gap at BOTH ends at the SAME time, you can burn up the reverser.  My brothers-in-law managed to park a too long train in their reversing loop and kept hearing a 'weird' noise.  It was the auto reverser trying to reverse a jillion times a second!  By the time they figured out what it was, the had fried a decoder AND the reverser.  It may be an exceedingly 'rare' occurrence, but Murphy says that if it CAN happen, it WILL!

Toni

Thanks for the Replies, But..

I am considering the suggested alternative wiring, but I think I didn't make clear what I'm looking for.  Quality of diagram hurts, but I've tried and can't get it any better.

In the diagram to the right of MOE and GERT are two indicator arrows showing how the wires from the booster are connected. For all blue-lined tracks the red wires from the booster go to the arrow ends and the black wires go to the ball ends of the indicators. I think this means that a train running from JACK to MOE will encounter the same DCC polarity in both blue sections, so the auto-reverser will not try to change polarity of the reversing section even though the train spills over the reversing section at both ends. Is this correct?

I also think that, because of the polarity of wiring to the blue tracks, the crossover at exit of the staging yard is not a reversing loop.The turnouts are DCC friendly. OK?

Thank you,

DrJolS

partners of Moe

The same years we originally had Manny, Moe and Jack (The Pep Boys), we also had the 3 Stooges:   Larry, Moe, and Curly.

So, just add Larry and Curly, and you're covered.

I like the names

Replace GERT with LARRY.

Add CURLY to throat leading to reversing staging.

Add SHEMP to other throat of staging.

Now I can sleep better.

Thank you, Don.

DrJolS