I realize that the use of analog trains is not permitted with this, but does that mean for the entire layout or just in the reverse loop section
Dear pegleg,
You would have to layout, wire and operate your loops, mains and turnouts so that the track polarity would never change under the loco, but ahead of the loco.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Joe Satnik
Pegleg587,
(Unless I missed something...) As long as you avoid the reverse section with the analog (DC) locomotive you should be OK. Don't be tricked if you find that the analog loco will drive into the reverse section, the problem is when you try to leave the reverse section into the main track with the rails reversed. Normal DCC will reverse the reverse section again and keep going forward. Once the analog loco hits the main section with reversed rails the reverse section will reverse to match the reversed rail main section and the analog locomotive should immediately reverse too. (One of the guys said he figured the engineer in his loco must have gotten whiplash.)
Charles
There are some special cases where auto reversers work just fine with dc locomotives. Consider a loop to loop layout with a single track main between two loops. If you use auto reversers on the two loops, it won't work for dc. But if you use an auto reverser on the main line between the loops, it will work just fine. The only restriction is that you have to always go around the loops in the same direction with the dc locomotives or you have to have manual reversing switches for the loops. DCC operation is unaffected.