[Phil Leigh]

I'm about to start on the first module in my layout. This will be a 6ft by 3.5ft "fiddle yard", with two lines in and out and as many storage loops on either side as I can cram in. Probably a double switchover at the entrance and exit. I am using DCC and want to "future-proof" as much as possible. Eventually they layout will be PC controlled. I want to use Railcomm block detection later so that the PC can see what train is in what loop etc.
I'd like to use PECO (oo gauge) turnouts. The fiddle yard is non-scenic - purely a functional component.

My questions are:
1) can I use the new Hornby above-board point motors with Peco turnouts or is this a non-starter? If not, what point motors make sense. The scenic modules will have tortoise or fulgarex slow-motion ont he main lines etc, but for the fiddle yard I need economy (but reliable operation with DCC).
2) If I want to add block detection later, should I use insulated joiners to isolate all of the yard loops now?
3) If I want to set up routes (sets of turnouts that fire together) can I do this without the PC? (I have not yet decided what turnout DCC decoders to use btw)
4) Electrofrog or Insulfrog?
5) How does the turnout decoder tell the PC the curent setting of a turnout? (sorry if this is a dumb question).

Any advice gratefully received, espcially on the DCC aspects of this! - I mostly run DMU's and Diesel freight/parcels. However, I do have 3 rakes of mk 1's and a rake of 8 Pullmans I'd like to run occasionally. Are these best held in purpose built (ie long!) sidings off the mainlines somewhere?.

 

[Phil Leigh]

Sorry - I should have been clearer...this fiddle yard is a straight through section with two lines entering and exiting (at each end) where I can hold trains for a while - with the ability to changeover on the mainlines at each end. Each line would have several laddered passing loops attached I think I understand the issue about space/length of the sidings...what length would make sense? My longest DMU is 3-car so that's about 3-3.5 ft. But - I would like to be able to hold longer trains. I suppose you are going to say that I need the yard to be as long as the longest train I want to run? I understand that, but I was hoping that I could leave (some) long rakes somewhere on the layout and pick them up as and when...

I will get some track planning symbols etc and plan this all out well before I start to build anything. At the moment, I just want to (try and) understand the DCC implications of this part of the layout. Thanks for all of your advice and guidance so far! It really is appreciated by this novice.

 

[Phil Leigh]

QUOTE (34C @ 29 Oct 2007, 11:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do you know the Electric Nose site, http://www.electricnose.co.uk/index.html Steve Jones excellent compendium of experience and opinion?
He has a fair sized DCC / computer controlled set up for automatic operation, and reported somewhere on the site that the 'work out' that solenoid point motors give to the points, when used intensively in the fiddle yard, was breaking RTR point mechanisms. His plan was to switch to slow motion motors for the gentler action these deliver.
Ooh - that's very interesting. I do know that site - there's a lot on there - I must have missed that! - maybe a re-think is in order, since I wouldn't want to have unreliable - or broken - points in the yard.