East/West Throttle Indication vs Loco's physical direction

[LV LOU]

Yeah, but this is exactly what I want to avoid.  I just find it annoying to look at an engine, look at an "arrow" or "E/W" indicator,
and think, from looking at that, that the engine is going to move to the right when I turn up the throttle, only to have it
move left, possibly re-couple to a cut of cars I just uncoupled from, or run into a siding, or worse, and then have to
flip the switch and try again.  Yes, these are only toy trains, and of course, nobody gets hurt.  It just makes
for a minor annoyance in these situations.
Lou, yeah, another DPDT switch, but then I have to remember to flip that thing when I am in certain areas of the layout.

No... the first suggestion really was the best one.  Just think of the direction as though you are sitting in the engine,
forget about "East" "West" or "Left" "Right", and just think Forward/Reverse.

Max,I was only thinking about the DPDT switch to maintain forward & reverse in those oddball sections where the locomotive would possibly reverse electrically,like a reverse loop.

[mmagliaro]

Max,I was only thinking about the DPDT switch to maintain forward & reverse in those oddball sections where the locomotive would possibly reverse electrically,like a reverse loop.

Ah, now I see. No, I don't have any problems like that.  I did have some reverse loops on my last layout,
and I rigged them up with sensors so the train would enter the loop, trigger when it got near the exit from the loop,
and that would cause the turnout to throw and the throttle direction relay to flip automatically.  The only other
bit was a separate throttle power line run through a bridge rectifier to power only the reversing loop,
so that section always ran only one way, even when the normal throttle direction flipped. 

But actually, that was intuitive, visually.  The train would be headed "east" to the right, go through the loop,
come out heading "west" (to the left), and the throttle direction indicators would automatically flip so they
actually always matched the way the train was going.

I only have this brain block because my current layout has peninsulas, where the train is moving right, goes around the end of the peninsula, and is now moving to the left, but it has not changed direction.

I repeat.... think about sitting in the engine, and all the confusion vanishes.  I am really grateful to
C855B for pointing this out.  I was hoping somebody just had a different way of thinking about it.

[cv_acr]

This may seem either silly, intractable, or both, but I have mused over it for some time and it still frustrates me.
When you operate a train, let's say it is physically moving to the right, and your direction indicator (whether it be
on a DCC or DC throttle, doesn't really matter) says, "E" (or a right-pointing arrow, or whatever it is).

My DCC throttle says "F" or "R"....

[cv_acr]

And the railroad I plan to model is mostly N/S, with an E/W branch.

[LV LOU]

I only have this brain block because my current layout has peninsulas, where the train is moving right, goes around the end of the peninsula, and is now moving to the left, but it has not changed direction.

I repeat.... think about sitting in the engine, and all the confusion vanishes.  I am really grateful to
C855B for pointing this out.  I was hoping somebody just had a different way of thinking about it.

I guess I just naturally think like that because I'm a life long RC car racer,and I fly helicopters.I started racing in '78...Anybody who messes with RC just has direction of travel planted in their brain,not only forward & backward,but also left & right..Racing RC,you eventually get past a level where you're actually just about sitting in the car,you can actually feel everything it's doing.A heli is a directional nightmare..

[peteski]

I guess I just naturally think like that because I'm a life long RC car racer,and I fly helicopters.I started racing in '78...Anybody who messes with RC just has direction of travel planted in their brain,not only forward & backward,but also left & right..Racing RC,you eventually get past a level where you're actually just about sitting in the car,you can actually feel everything it's doing.A heli is a directional nightmare..

Sure, but we are dealing with model trains here (which run forward or reverse on a fixed track). No need to complicate things.  If I want a nightmarish scenario, I'll start flying RC helicopters. Actually I tried, 15 years ago.    After the last crash I fixed the heli and it's been sitting on a shelf ever since.

[Chris333]

Change the switch to "this way" and "that way".   

[nkalanaga]

Think of it as "timetable direction".  Even on the prototype a train may go around a curve and be headed "the wrong way", but it's still traveling in the same timetable direction.

Now, if you want confusing, try a DC wye with automatic polarity reversal.  I have one leading into my staging yard, with the yard polarity reversing when the entry switch is thrown.  Come off the mainline westbound, around leg 1, into the yard, throw the switch, out leg 2, onto the mainline, and the train is now facing the opposite direction.  But it's still going the same direction, and the reversing switch hasn't been thrown.  It's a little hard, at first, to remember NOT to reverse the train when turning it on the wye.

[mmagliaro]

Think of it as "timetable direction".  Even on the prototype a train may go around a curve and be headed "the wrong way", but it's still traveling in the same timetable direction.

Now, if you want confusing, try a DC wye with automatic polarity reversal.  I have one leading into my staging yard, with the yard polarity reversing when the entry switch is thrown.  Come off the mainline westbound, around leg 1, into the yard, throw the switch, out leg 2, onto the mainline, and the train is now facing the opposite direction.  But it's still going the same direction, and the reversing switch hasn't been thrown.  It's a little hard, at first, to remember NOT to reverse the train when turning it on the wye.

I have that exact situation too (a wye).  But if I just think about forward/backward, my head doesn't hurt anymore. 

[nkalanaga]

Max:  True, but the loco goes IN forwards, and comes out BACKWARDS, without changing the throttle direction...  I know, that wouldn't work on many layouts, but for a stub-end yard, where trains have to stop anyway, wiring a reversing switch to the turnout was the easiest way of handling the wiring.  If the wye was at a junction, and trains could continue on all three legs, it would have to be handled differently.