Reversing with a loc

[Train-354733]

I'm planning a straight line railway along a ledge but I don't have space for a turning loop and so it needs to be able to go forwards and backwards without derailing, so what I want to know is weather that is possible

[What About The Bee]

Hello @Train-354733

Of course that is possible!  

Bee

[ntpntpntp]

Of course.  I don't know of any loco model which is only capable of running in one direction other than really cheap battery or clockwork toys for kids 🙂 Some real life locos were designed to run mostly in one direction but could reverse if necessary.

By "turning loop" do you mean a semi-circle of track at each end?   If you've only got space for a ledge you could still have a passing loop or other track arrangement to make things more interesting. 

Will you be running DC or DCC?    With DC you can buy an electronic shuttle unit which will handle the back-and-forth running automatically, with various degrees of sophistication such as adjustable timing, smooth acceleration/deceleration, terminals to power signals or change points etc.   There are similar modules for DCC but it's trickier as the module needs to control the loco by DCC address rather than just controlling the track voltage.

Whatever method you choose, make sure your ledge has sufficient width and safety fencing to guard against accidental derailment (which WILL happen one day regardless of how perfectly it runs the rest of the time 🙂 ) 

Edited May 6 by ntpntpntp

[ModelerXYZ]

Hi, Welcome to the forum @Train-354733. Yes, it is possible. If you put run around loops in, (which makes the section with it double track) you can move small locos from one end of the train to the other. Either that or diesel railcars are reliable. Hornby have a couple that you can get to do that. . 

This is an example of a Run around loop. Good luck. XYZ

[RDS]

what's a loc?  (In the title)

[Rog RJ]

It's what we call a loco

[ntpntpntp]

@RDS   might be simply a typo of "Loco" or could be a translation.   I model European railways so I'm used to seeing "Lok" as the German abbreviation 🙂 

[Rallymatt]

Is that why there is a range of ‘Lok sound’ decoders? 

[ntpntpntp]

@Rallymatt   yup 🙂 LokPilot are ESU's non-sound decoders. 

[Rana Temporia]

Other countries use Loc as in Electroloc as I found out when I bought a couple of OH electric locos based on those from the Netherlands. Not sure if Belgium do to. 

[Loewietje]

In Belgium both the ladies and gentlemen working with the 1:1 scale engines as the people playing working with the smaller scale versions call them ‘locs’ or ‘loks’. 

[Aussie Fred]

Or maybe he is a bit like me and just leaves some letters off when typing and being an extreme newbie didn't know how to correct it. Anyway, some are getting a little "picky" over it - didn't think the grammer police extended to this forum. I will have to double and tripple check my posts from now on.

[96RAF]

Haha - grammar and triple - gotcha.

[Aussie Fred]

At least someone is watching with a sense of humour

[The Doc]

Modeller XYZ is spot on with the runaround loop - I would have one at each end, and if possible with a siding coming off.  Then your locos (or Locs/loks if people prefer!) can run around their coaches/wagons and shunt some into a siding, collecting others from the siding while they are about it.  Far more play potential than just having a plain dead end where you cna only just shuttle back and forth.

Also worth bearing in mind is that, although all models can go forwards and backwards, derailments are much more common when pushing than pulling a model train, usually because of slightly different couplings, or ones that don't sit at the correct height.  For example, many modern Dapol wagons appear to me to have droopy NEM couplings.