Best Ross switches for my yard???

My advice is to put as many tracks in your yard as possible!

The best plan will be highly dependent on the size and shape of the space you have for the yard.  Show us where the yard will be and what size area you have to work with.  Also any lead tracks in and out and where they come into the yard.  You can't plan the yard in a vacuum, you need to know the environment it'll be in.

Avoid three rail 3 way wye switches.  Headache!

The Ross three switch four track one piece wye ladder is a great way to start.

Plan on running tight spacing of the yard tracks.

Many times you can start a yard throat back into a curve with curved turnouts.

Pull through double ended sidings can be the most trouble free.

Show us a scale area sketch with dimensions.

Trust me on this, you will need more yard tracks than you may think.

Also, think down the road where another yard complex may be installed.  Otherwise you will wish you had.

Check out GRJ's yard.

A Curtis/Ross 4 way, a couple of standard switches, and (2) double slips.   Module is 4 ft wide X 6 ft long.   There are (3) similar modules with (8) matching straight tracks.

This is my10-track  yard, and I wish I had space for more.   There was no way with my room that it could be a pull-thru style, so it's single-ended.

I agree with the avoiding the 3 way. I have an early version. Works fine but it required extensive wiring and a couple of relays. The newer version  I think saw some changes. Seeing you can fit in 4 tracks. I’d look into the 4 way. I had one at one time. Removed it to add a turntable. Straight forward as far as wiring and worked as advertised.

  Without seeing your track plan or curve radius. I would give the curved turnouts a look as mentioned. Advantage is you can sometimes start the spread of your 4 track or more yard much sooner by placing them back to back. You can easily pick up a few extra spots to park trains.

If your sidings are long enough. I’d maybe add a crossover in order to create a runaround. It can be done with 2 turnouts but Ross makes a #4 crossover in both right and left. Ross I believe sells full size templates of everything. May be worth picking up and it will give you a better visual that you can tweak different ways to see what works best for your space.

The Ross #170 4-Way is the best way to get the most tracks in the shortest distance for the lowest cost.

@Dave_C posted:

If your sidings are long enough. I’d maybe add a crossover in order to create a runaround. It can be done with 2 turnouts but Ross makes a #4 in both right and left.

The yard switches are a single piece that is really two #4 switches grafted together and provides 3.5" track spacing.

#202 #4 Right-hand Yard Crossover and #203 #4 Left-hand Yard Crossover

Your yard track layout does not have to be symmetric.  You can add an additional turnout to either side of the the 4-way which would give you 5 sidings if you have room.

Jan

Although this is two rail 0 scale it demonstrates how you can trim the curved switches back so as to position the points right after the frog.

Check with Steve to see if he can fabricate an assembly like this should you have any interest.

Trimming turnout legs can really help in tight situations.

Using two turnouts right after the initial turnout yields close to equal length siding as opposed to ladder track switches in the top photo.

@Jan posted:

Your yard track layout does not have to be symmetric.  You can add an additional turnout to either side of the the 4-way which would give you 5 sidings if you have room.

Mine yard switching isn't close to symmetrical!

I used 2 Ross 4 ways to create an eight track yard with access from 2 directions:

@Tom Tee seems to me interweaving 2 rail track like you have is much more straightforward than with 3 rail.  What are the curve radii on the compound curved turnouts?  I've used these Ross curved turnouts on my tight layout. Could not have done it with regular straight switches.  Jeff

@Mark Boyce  if you used these on the proposed yard alternative, you could get in another 1 or 2 tracks - MORE STORAGE !!!  Set of 4 are on the bay for $99 plus shipping, looks like all different sizes no motors and ties have been trimmed short.

My RR track schematic.

@ScoutingDad posted:

@Tom Tee seems to me interweaving 2 rail track like you have is much more straightforward than with 3 rail.  What are the curve radii on the compound curved turnouts?  I've used these Ross curved turnouts on my tight layout. Could not have done it with regular straight switches.  Jeff

@Mark Boyce  if you used these on the proposed yard alternative, you could get in another 1 or 2 tracks - MORE STORAGE !!!  Set of 4 are on the bay for $99 plus shipping, looks like all different sizes no motors and ties have been trimmed short.

Thank you, Jeff!  I see them.  I am thinking the latest design with the yard tracks instead of the extra loop is worth working on.  Because of the curves, it won’t be a straightforward design, I think.  I’m going to give it some work on SCARM.

@ScoutingDad posted:

@Tom Tee seems to me interweaving 2 rail track like you have is much more straightforward than with 3 rail.  What are the curve radii on the compound curved turnouts?

Two rail is a tad more straight forward.  There are 5 three way turnouts on my RR and all they need are a couple of gaps.

Some of the curved turnouts are 0-144 on the outside curve and vary between 0-120 and 0-132 on the inside curve.  Four of them are 0-256 on the outside curve and 0-172 on the inside curve.

In two rail speak they would be termed:

72" radius / 60" radius

128" radius / 86" radius.

The wide radius curved turnouts are great for use in cosmetic curves such as on this peninsula:

South view

North  view

Another look.   Ross three way switches.   

Mike, the 3-way looks great.  Some folks say they had trouble with them.  How has yours worked for you?

I have the early version of the 3 way. It fit as far as the operating scheme and has worked well. I studied the switch for a bit looking at the 3 paths you would go through and what rails needed to be powered or not to get through without stalling or shorting. I soldered a wire to every rail and used 2 relays to switch polarity. The only engine that caused a flicker was a TMCC 0-8-0. I ended up disconnecting 2 wired rails and it was fine and with all the new improvements as far as extra pickup rollers on engines I haven’t had an issue until 2 weeks ago.

Lionel Legacy Consolidation. Had this engine for a few years. Can’t believe it took this long to travel over it. Stalled in the same spot every time. Was fine on the curved legs. Just the straight portion. Initial diagnose was the engine not making contact with the outside rails. 2 wheeled pilot truck and the non traction tire drive wheel are very close together. Simple fix. Connect the 2 chassis’ together with a ring ended jumper wire and pickup 8 extra wheels from the tender.
Moral of the story. Don’t assume and check your work. It still stalled in the same spot. I then wasted an hour checking out the track wiring. 30 years ago I could tell you exactly what I did. Fast forward to today and I sat and stared at it and slowly checked it out to find nothing wrong. With the engine back on the bench I checked it with a meter. Open circuit. The chassis on the tender isn’t a ground. Lengthened the wire and placed it on the axle wiper. Fixed the problem.

The area with the 2 frogs was the culprit. If the 3 way fits your scheme I wouldn’t rule it out. But I would look for alternatives. The newer version Mike shows may be more user friendly.
I’ve read about their double slip switches that look similar to a crossover. Years ago these weren’t available. I accomplished pretty much the same thing using 2 of their Wyes. No complicated wiring and nothing seems to have any issues going through them.

Well, I'm not that enamored with the Double-Slip Switches, I have two of them that I'm about to remove, too many niggling issues.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, I'm not that enamored with the Double-Slip Switches, I have two of them that I'm about to remove, too many niggling issues.

Since yours are close to the edge of the platform, why not just use ground throws.  Not as sophisticated as the DZ2500s, but very reliable.  And easier than replacing them.

The switch machines aren't the big issue, it's been the electrical issues with shorting going across.  I'm beginning to suspect my DZ-1008 relays are screwing up!

Thanks to each of you guys that took your time to share information on my concern.  I've a kinda of a small layout and only have one maintenance person on salary.  After many, many good suggestions, I have decided to use Ross switches:  On incoming traffic, the #170 4 way, the # 100 and the # 101, and the two connectors.  (Of course, the same for outgoing traffic)  Here's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Gunner. proclaims that a ten rail track yard makes him somewhat happy.  My original plan calls for 5 tracks and the above switches will give me 6 tracks. I think the 6 tracks will use about a total 20 in. of real estate and I can work that out.  It's the best happy I can do at this time. As the time come around, I'll wire the #170 slowly, I won't have such hard dealing with 4 turnouts vs. 6.  I don't know, we'll see.

Best regards and life is good

Tommy 

Tommy, it sounds like a good plan to me!

@thebeeman posted:

I'll wire the #170 slowly, I won't have such hard dealing with 4 turnouts vs. 6.  I don't know, we'll see.

Best regards and life is good

Tommy

My 4 way is installed in a hard place to wire.  One foot off the attic floor, between the attic layout and the third-floor staging area.  I mounted and wired it out of place, put the plywood in place and connected wires.