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same DCC address to two turnouts? Track and electrical/DCC
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Active Member 63 posts costin g Active Member 63 posts
costin g

Hi,

I was wondering what would you recommend for something like a simple run-around section like this:

1_212958.png 

So far I gave all turnouts individual addresses but it struck me as a waste of buttons and maybe of logic. If both turnouts are switched in sync with a single address, wouldn't it make it easier to operate? Are there any downsides of this that I don't see?

For the record this is Marklin's C track and the decoders + solenoids are in the roadbed, which means later changes will be ... complicated. So I'd rather ask all the stupid questions now

Cheers,

.costin
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Pelsea Prolific poster 2,398 posts
Pelsea

Er, yeah...

If a long train is approaching from the left and is meeting a short train coming from the right, it will stop just short of 24612, which will be set against it. The left bound train will then take the siding. If the rightbound is too long to clear 24611 it will have to stop before that, and may cause clearance problems further left.

pqe
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Tim Latham Regular poster 489 posts
Tim Latham

We do this

We do this at our club. We have a lot of crossovers between the two mains, so we just program the two switch machines to throw at the same time.

Tim Latham

Mississippi Central R.R. "The Natchez Route"

HO Scale 1905 to 1935

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/blog/timlatham

 
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Wazzzy Regular poster 224 posts
Wazzzy

i would have separate ID #s

i would have separate ID #s for each turnout. 

Not knowing the full operational plan, and with the complication of changes later on, this would give you the best flexibility for operations.

 

Alan Loizeaux

CEO  Empire Trackworks   (Empire-Trackworks.com)

Modeling ON30 DRG

Husband, Father, Grandpa, Retired Military, Conductor / Yard Master Norfolk Southern, custom track work builder (S, SN3, On3, On30 & others)
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joef MRH Founder 17,401 posts
joef

Crossovers yes, sidings no

With sidings, there will be times when you have one train approaching one end on the main and another train approaching the other end needs to take the siding. So you will want the turnouts on separate controls. With crossovers, you want both turnouts to throw together, so if they’re DCC controlled putting both on the same address is an ideal way to do it.

Joe Fugate​
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

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Read my blog
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costin g Active Member 63 posts
costin g

got it

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I'll keep them separate then.

Cheers,

.costin
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