Large Scale Central

Best Reversing Unit?

Reviews
#1

Street car line and a planned reversing operation.
What product have you purchased and used that works best for you.
Split-Jaw’s unit lists at over $140 - with adjustable pauses at rail endings. Is this unit a standard in durability, expected cost, and ease of use?

Thanks,
Wendell

#2

I think in terms of simplicity and the ability for smooth starts and stops, I’d look at RR Concepts’ Stationmaster Reverser. It works either off of diodes, or you can use magnets and reed switches for multiple station stops along the route. Both allow for slow starts and stops.

http://www.rr-concepts.com/Reverser.shtml

Later,

K

#3

Kevin-
Thanks for the product reference.
The website references a review in Garden RR – however, it did not activate. I imagine the reference gives a positive review. I am impressed with the features and apparent ease of installation.
Is this a product you have reviewed yourself?
Hopefully, I will see one at the Train Show in Anaheim on the 10th.
Wendell

#4

The only one I have tried was the Aristocraft one and it was a pretty simple to setup and it worked well. I recently sold a preowned unit in box on Ebay for $75. That seems to be the going rate.
The one Kevin suggested sounds better though in that you can plan station stops.

#5

I like the unit Kevin has linked to, but I have been using the Aristocraft reversing unit for many years now and it still operates great.
Every once in a while I need to replace the tiny resistor on the track section, but it’s pretty simple and works well.

#6

Resistor? I thought the Aristo unit used diodes.

#7

David Maynard said:

Resistor? I thought the Aristo unit used diodes.

<br / Resistor / diode… I am not the most technical person, sorry.

#8

I love the RR Concepts. I also use the magnet to trigger a sound card ($4.59) with speaker and mike. to announce station stops at the stops.

#9

I purchased my first RR Concepts product way back in ‘95. Spurred on by a review in Garden Railways Magazine. I subsequently purchased more of Curtis’ products. I have nothing but good things to say about his products and his technical support.

#10

Wendell, the Reverser was one of a few products RR Concepts sent me for use in a series I did on automation products a few years back. (August 2012 for the auto reversers.) I don’t remember if I broke that out as a separate product review, or just described its operation within the context of the series. I reviewed his “Yardmaster” controller a few years ago. Alas, GR has revamped their web site, so the product reviews are harder to navigate and search.

But to answer your question, yes, I was very impressed with its operation. I really liked the programmable acceleration and deceleration rates, as that’s the one thing that really irks me about the basic back-and-forth controllers–the trains suddenly starting and stopping. Dallee Electronics also has components which allow for slow starts and stops with back-and-forth operations, but the components needed are more expensive than the RR Concepts unit. The Dallee stuff is good if you want really high levels of automation, such as automating a switchback or stuff like that. Curtis (RR Concepts) and Dallas (Dallee) are both very good–and thankfully for me–patient people.

Later,

K

#11

The Aristo rerailer uses a diode and it should be a 3 amp minimum.

I used my own diodes and have never had a failure.

I also added a 1 foot isolated section with a 4 ohm 1 watt resistor to make a slower start and slow down before hitting the diode section. Much less coupler slamming and easier on the gears. sort of a pseudo soft start soft slow down.