Parked Engines

Anything parked is on a siding with a toggle switch to remove power.

Not only does it protect the parked locomotive, but in the event a switch is inadvertently thrown. The operating locomotive/train will stop instead of crashing into whatever train is parked.

"short" = 'short circuit'. Electric current [always] flows from a voltage source through a conductor to a load and thence through the load. It then flows from the load through a conductor to the other pole of the voltage source whereupon it flows through the voltage source. It is a closed loop, a circle, a 'circuit'. Thus the normal current path is a long circuit through the load (a running engine, for example). A wheel (for example) contacting both the center and an outside rail provides an ideal path-of-least-resistance for current to flow from source, through the now-created short circuit and back to the voltage source leaving the load (your locomotive) with zero volts and thus zero current and it stops.

The harm of a short circuit isn't to the load but rather to the voltage source and to any undersized conductors in the circuit. Fuses and circuit breakers don't protect load devices but rather power sources and wiring. Thus in an ideal world short circuits have no effect on loads (your engines including parked ones still receiving supply voltage). 

BUT the world isn't ideal because we have fancy electronics in our trains nowadays that can be harmed (cooked) by high voltage spikes (transients). Dead-short circuits can cause counter-EMF in inductors (power transformers) to produce such high voltage transients. We know to protect against voltage spikes by installing TVS diodes across voltage sources and preferably also across loads and if parked engines are so provided they will not be harmed by anything going on elsewhere in the power circuit.

I'm in Rick's camp, just add a toggle switch for sidings.  I even did that for my carpet empire.

I use inexpensive household wall switches for sidings.

What are the dollar amounts for on the switches?

That’s how much he tells his wife the engine on that siding cost 

"Parked engines":

May, or may not be something that you find interesting, but out on the rails that I worked (retired Engineer), engines that were "parked" were most often referred to as being "On spot" or "Tied Down".

"Parked" is what you see when autos/trucks are stationary and left unattended.

The above entirely FWIW.

Andre

LIKevin posted:

That’s how much he tells his wife the engine on that siding cost 

Love it!!!!

laming posted:

"Parked engines":

May, or may not be something that you find interesting, but out on the rails that I worked (retired Engineer), engines that were "parked" were most often referred to as being "On spot" or "Tied Down".

"Parked" is what you see when autos/trucks are stationary and left unattended.

The above entirely FWIW.

Andre

It's Fussy Old F**t time - let me join in! (At my age there are so few pleasures left.)

Correct, above. One does not "park" a locomotive or a RR car, nor does one go to the "front" or "back" of a boat or ship. 

I have never heard "on spot", but "spotted" or "spot" ("spot that flat on track 3") I have, so "on spot" makes sense. I have always liked "tying down" a locomotive; strangely, it sounds almost aeronautical ("Tie down that Piper Cub! Storm's a'comin!"), but, as RR's came way before airplanes, I imagine that it it isn't....

==========

Oh, on the original question: toggle switches. For sure. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the old saying goes.

Command Control in no way eliminated the goodness and sensibility of electrical blocks on a layout.

FWIW, on my RR every siding has one, two or three isolation blocks.

On a traveling module I once used a pair of quad household switches..

LIKevin posted:

That’s how much he tells his wife the engine on that siding cost 

Problem is that's what your wife will sell your trains for when you die...Well, guess it won't matter any way. Nick

D500 posted:

laming posted:

"Parked engines":

May, or may not be something that you find interesting, but out on the rails that I worked (retired Engineer), engines that were "parked" were most often referred to as being "On spot" or "Tied Down".

"Parked" is what you see when autos/trucks are stationary and left unattended.

The above entirely FWIW.

Andre

It's Fussy Old F**t time - let me join in! (At my age there are so few pleasures left.)

Correct, above. One does not "park" a locomotive or a RR car, nor does one go to the "front" or "back" of a boat or ship. 

I have never heard "on spot", but "spotted" or "spot" ("spot that flat on track 3") I have, so "on spot" makes sense. I have always liked "tying down" a locomotive; strangely, it sounds almost aeronautical ("Tie down that Piper Cub! Storm's a'comin!"), but, as RR's came way before airplanes, I imagine that it it isn't....

==========

Oh, on the original question: toggle switches. For sure. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the old saying goes.

Command Control in no way eliminated the goodness and sensibility of electrical blocks on a layout.

As I've heard it, 'tying down' refers to the actual act of setting hand brakes so depending on circumstances one might tie down the locomotive and several cars, thus tying down the train.

D500 posted:

laming posted:

"Parked engines":

May, or may not be something that you find interesting, but out on the rails that I worked (retired Engineer), engines that were "parked" were most often referred to as being "On spot" or "Tied Down".

"Parked" is what you see when autos/trucks are stationary and left unattended.

The above entirely FWIW.

Andre

It's Fussy Old F**t time - let me join in! <snip>

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but at what point was my polite and respectful dissimulation of information "fussy"?

Andre

rockstars1989 posted:

LIKevin posted:

That’s how much he tells his wife the engine on that siding cost 

Problem is that's what your wife will sell your trains for when you die...Well, guess it won't matter any way. Nick

Instructions in Will: "Honey, just don't sell my trains for what I told you I paid for them !" 

geysergazer posted:

As I've heard it, 'tying down' refers to the actual act of setting hand brakes so depending on circumstances one might tie down the locomotive and several cars, thus tying down the train.

That is correct Lew.

The term is used to refer to an engine (or engines), or engine(s) with cars, or a car(s) without engine(s) attached, and does indeed refer to cranking down of the brakes to secure against movement.

Info points:

* Any engine that is going to have an empty cab, must have its brake tied down if the Engineer (or competent train service employee) is not going to be within a few feet of said engine.

* Consist of engines left unattended within yard limits must have at least one engine tied down. (Or enough to secure the consist.)

* Outside of yard limits, all engines must be secured by hand brakes.

Andre

I like the Atlas two way toggle switches. You can use 2 different power supplies to the block as well as switching it off. They’re cheap and work great.  

I like the toggle switch for siding idea. Even if no engine is on the siding it would have saved lots of money. I was running my new at the time K-line Berkshire and taking pictures. Forgot I had a siding open and it was next to the side of the layout. The engine went into the siding, hit the bumper and off it went onto the cement floor. If the siding to turned off it would haves stopped. Don

Thanks for all the Tying Down advise guys.  I figured it would be safer to toggle power on and off for a Tied Down engine.  After reading for years about block wiring layouts and with TMCC and DCS you can do away with all the blocks, and how they making wiring a layout much simpler.  I was just checking to see how you guys handled a Tied Down engines.

From the DCC world of HO:

This time last year, I didn't have a layout. As of today, I have a partial double deck layout that occupies 70% of my 16' x 20' out building. The layout is 100% functional. (No scenery as yet.) I have three individual "cabs" (hand held units) via an NCE R/C system so I have the potential for up to three operators running at once.

Though multi-operator operating sessions have only just begun, I can already see the need for on/off toggle switches on select tracks. (Eng house tracks primarily, but also the upper/lower stage tracks.)

SO, in spite of "command control" (DCC in my case) I concur with others that there is a case for "on/off" toggles for certain tracks.

Andre

I'm using the Lionel LCS block relays to toggle power on/off for all my spurs.  Seemed simpler then running a bunch of wire for toggle switches at a panel.  Plus I can turn them on/off from anywhere in the room.  Just seemed like good practice.