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Update 17th June 2009 |
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Things have picked up with Roger back. Last Friday I had the 'team around. Tral laying and servo point motor discussion were the order
of the night. Mark and Roger got stuck into laying track from the points I had screwed down. Trevor and Graham helped and commented when needed.
Graham and I cleaned up some light globe sockets of old wire and ut in a box for future lighting use as well. Mark started to use the acrillic
goos to hold down the innermost track, along with nails, and did some neat staggered joins, bringing the inner track almost around the first curve.
I decided after that to stick with the nails!!!
Those servos are an interesting idea. Roger and me are looking at a DCC use while Trevor has a non DCC system planned. Roger and me are looking at the Quad Servo DCC Accessory Decoder from Tam Valley Depot http://www.tamvalleydepot.com/products.html - I got one as well as a Octopus Eight Servo Driver. Roger thinks the DCC unit witht he relays is the way to go for another layout he's working on, and I'm thinking of them as well. As per usual these guys motivated me to do more work over the weekend. When I went down the next day after the friday's night working bee I noted the departure end's track had 7 not 8 spaces. A point was not in place, and I thought it was becasue it could not fit. So off to a hobby shop to buy a new curved point to suit the situation. I laid it and some more track around the curve to show what I wanted done. I connected the inner and smallest loop right around. I will admit to pushing some wagons around to hear and see them move !!! That night I thought I could stop the track laying as it is now obvious what top do. I should be thining electrical now. Where to put the electrical board? Not sure but are thinking where the spac eis as seen in the top left photo. It would slide out ito the passageway and hinde down for working on. Will think about it. On the sunday I ddi go and get some condute and attached it to the "bridge" to allow wiing to be done. Last night I had my occasional wednesday night workbee as well, with only roger turning up. We continued track laying with roger doing some more work around the departure point throat. He also got two more roads laid right around and connected to the arrival end. I decided to motor tool and cut the electeical gaps in the peco point to make them more DCC friendly. this will mean a far bit of wiring and contacts, but that's only work to do !!!! I started the long loop form the wall end and across the bridge. I also started the long stub ended siding whic I nickname "The XPT road", since it will take a 5 car XPT set, which does not need turning and can go right out! The three smaller stub ended siding were started as well. to finsh them I'll have to contort into a small access hole, so I left that "for another time". 
I'll share a few other things here as well. Recently exhibiting my club's layout at a model railway show I were asked by one of our members could DCC reduce the wiring and complexity ? Big question but I knew he was not talking about the track and train but the accessorys and control of points and panels. It got me wondering so I started lookin on the internet. First solution was all NCE - since the club had lots of tortoise motors to use. Here's a link to the .pdf file I sent to our members outlining this initial solution. but is it a solutin to a "problem" or just something different ? That still has to be worked out ! A few days on and On & off I have looked beyond NCE and there are many products out there, some basically offer the same idea, others have different paths. I posted this to the NCE-DCC yahoo group and got a lot of good advice. For me it has interesting possibilities. when I first started the layout I deemed the point system would be totally independant to the DCC train running. But now I have had more thoughts as to the control. why not use this to reduce wiring? It may even end up on a seperate DCC system under the layout driven by a seperate DCc command station, which could be a back up to the train unit if needed. Or just run the accessory DCC bis as a seperate twin wire bus on it's own circuit (so shorts do not occur). It wil not mean I'll give up the signal and point system's control via computer or a locoal and CTC panel, just a different way to get there. After all the Pc can issue point commands as required since the Pc will be attached to the command station!! Like the club what conponents are still to be thought about. In my case I have to be very strict and not buy stuff that will sit aorund for too long. I just need t plan for future installations. For sure I have to get the track wored up, the track sectoins organised, the pint motor units decided and installed. But the extra smarts, do I need them right now? For while work is going well, the layout is still years away from being run - this upper stagin will be "finished" then lifted into position. But thereis no track to mate it to yet, more work in the main room to do that. Yeet this is the time when I can easily work on the area. Do I wait for future or get it all done now, properly? Properly will means a lot of expense, in buying Track Dectectors, reversing units, the servo controllers. Moving right along is another set of thoughts. 
Now to the details.
I have a return loop and staging yard which I am laying track for. And with the track now going in I have turned my attention to the wiring. Each section is doble gapped with insulated rail joiners. What I have is Mainline in Arrival yard throat track section Storage road track section Overrun track detection Departure yard throat track section What I want to happen is that when a train enters stagin we can see this on the panel. Whren the train clears the Arrival road, usually the train would then just stop as it will not foul the yard throat behins and is totally in it's own section. If the train is too long, the train will hot the Overrun track detection that is a simple 40cm length section so if you enter it, you stop and reverse back to clear. Finally th departure yard throat has it's own track section. Th eoverrun is there so yuo can be departing a train and recieving a train at the same time without worry of collision. So I have placed a need for track detection in this area. Eventually I will set up a LAN with some ethernet web cams for monitoring the area as well but that is a future luxury. My interest is the use of globes for short protection. And I want to put in track detectors as well. On the graphic I have A: Track Section>>>>Globe>>>Reverser>>>Detector>>>DCC track bus B: Track Section>>>>Globe>>>Detector>>>Reverser>>>DCC track bus I'll admit I probally wil not need the globe as I know there are reversing units with short protection availible. What I'm interested is the track detector's postioning. The same for the normal track sections: C: Track Section>>>>Globe>>>Detector>>>DCC track bus D: Track Section>>>Detector>>>>Globe>>>DCC track bus Again interested in the detector's position. I cannot afford the sheer number of electronic short protection devices to ensure each section is 'protected' - globes do this well. BUT adding a detector into the mix means I have to consider the ramifications. I posted this to the NCE-DCC yahoo list and got this reply back: David, Circuit "A" will NOT work, the detector will see the load of the electronics in the reverser as an occupancy. Circuit "B" will work, as you say the globe may not be needed if the reverser includes short protection. Circuits "C" & "D" will both work, but I would use "D" since it is a good rule that the detection unit be the last thing directly connected to the track. That would be necessary if you used an electronic circuit breaker instead of the globe. Barry Draper 
Now a look at a rough sketch of the upper staging yards.
Trackwork isn't exactly like it is in real life, bt it is close and shows what I amd talking about. Normally:
Another thing/toy I are trying to not buy is a webcam. Despite having track circuits I can imageing the need for some webcams over the layout. fo rthe stgin so one can see the train arrive and depart. Probally two camera per stagin yard would be best. then there is the use of other camera in the room for remote driving. One neat thing I like (saw it in a Model Railroader publication) was to put a camera in a building so one could make a scale signalbox type "window". Rather than using conventional TV/camera, splitters, monitors,cable etc I thought computer network. Having a few "screen and trackballs" situated around the layout will allow operators to run the trains in and out of the staging. And if they are web cams they can call up any camera ! I can eventually allow the webcams onto the internet if I wish. alot easier to me. But I really do not need them now ! No way ! Plenty to do and buy before they are required. Technology will get cheaper and different, so it is best I do not buy now ! Well that's a big enough update, go rest after reading it ! |
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Page written & maintained by David Head.david@nmit.vic.edu.au