A New Look at Control Panels?

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stayhi128
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Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:33 pm

A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby stayhi128 » Wed Dec 01, 2021 12:57 pm

DSC_0667.JPG


Well - just off my workbench actually! And in fact it is for my 0n30 layout, but is equally applicable to all scales. I had a problem. The fiddle yard is six roads, 24 feet long, hidden behind the backscene. There is a control point at the back, for a dedicated fiddle yard operator. But when operating single handed, trying to remember 'what' was 'where' was impossible. Also, most tracks had two trains on, so 'shuffling up' was required. Now the two control panels of my P4 layout, Tetbury, gave a clear indication of the disposition of the turnouts in the main layout and the fiddle yard. Now I have plans to automate the operation of the latter, using Brimal's MR204 latching relays. (This is nothing new - I was doing this with ex Post office 3000 relays 40 years ago). Could I not do something similar with my 0n30 layout?

I remembered past Air Traffic Control operations, where data for each plane within the controlled airspace had a tablet strip, where details were hand written. As soon as the plane landed or cleared the airspace, the strip was dumped. Surely, with a little discipline, I could use this method. The pic above shows the result. You can see it is effectively two panels. The lower replicates the scenic area. On Tetbury I have red/green LEDs, showing how the turnouts are set, but this time I opted to have just green LEDs, which are either on or off.

The upper panel shows the fiddle yard. As you can see, it has been divided into East Bound and West Bound sections, indicated by colouring the tracks red and green. In sympathy with this, red an green lights are on or off, indicating the paths set by the turnouts. Ten trains are marshalled into fixed rakes. Nothing unusual so far. But notice, each track has one or two blue lights as well. Each train has a rare earth magnet glued to the underside of the last car/coach. These act upon reed switches placed in between the rails and these control the MR204 relays. There are two reed switches; one switches the blue LED on, when the train enters the section, whilst a second turns it off, when it leaves. Ten blue LEDs in total, each requiring 1 off MR204 relay. The tablet strips move with the train - you can see trains 530 and 550 are at the bottom of the panel, indicating they are in the scenic section.

And it works! Not just for me, but for anyone who wants to play. Just one other point. I found the usual 'holsters' supplied for the NCE controllers to be somewhat clumsy. Instead, I lay them into sloping cradles. In this way I can use them without taking them out of the cradle, making it easy to use two at a time. (Thinks. Must get around to painting the cradles). Now to get back to automating Tetbury's fiddle yard.
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Triode
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Re: A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby Triode » Wed Dec 01, 2021 1:14 pm

Looks very neat and professional. Does this setup mean each train is always marshalled onto the same designated track so that the printed names match up?

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grovenor-2685
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Re: A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby grovenor-2685 » Wed Dec 01, 2021 1:28 pm

When you say
stayhi128 wrote: The tablet strips move with the train - you can see trains 530 and 550 are at the bottom of the panel, indicating they are in the scenic section.

Do you mean that the operator moves them by hand? Or have you some mechanical gadget?
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Keith
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Winander
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Re: A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby Winander » Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:04 pm

Interesting and inventive implementation but I don’t see how the composition of trains is maintained. The last issue of the MERG journal had an article that used RFID chips that could possibly hold such information (since they are issued in retail for security and stock and pricing information). That system worked on prototypically spaced N gauge tracks and, IIRC, was only used for TOTI ( train on track info). It would replace your magnets and relays in addition to giving reliable formation info.
I don’t want to diminish your efforts and think you have designed a very useful system, but am posting this to inform others who wish to reproduce a similar system.
Richard Hodgson
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stayhi128
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:33 pm

Re: A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby stayhi128 » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:29 am

Triode wrote:Looks very neat and professional. Does this setup mean each train is always marshalled onto the same designated track so that the printed names match up?


Not necassarily. In theory, you can route a train into any vacant space, (I say 'space', rather than track, as with some of the shorter trains, I can get as many as four onto the same track. In practive, i find no difficulty in keeping Eastbound and Westbound trains on their respective sectors.

Although trains 530 and 555 are designed for some shunting, the layout in essence is a 'roundy roundy' - something I have never had before. If I want to do some serious shunting I go to my P4 layout.

stayhi128
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:33 pm

Re: A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby stayhi128 » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:32 am

Winander wrote:Interesting and inventive implementation but I don’t see how the composition of trains is maintained. The last issue of the MERG journal had an article that used RFID chips that could possibly hold such information (since they are issued in retail for security and stock and pricing information). That system worked on prototypically spaced N gauge tracks and, IIRC, was only used for TOTI ( train on track info). It would replace your magnets and relays in addition to giving reliable formation info.
I don’t want to diminish your efforts and think you have designed a very useful system, but am posting this to inform others who wish to reproduce a similar system.


Electronics are way over my head Richard. I am sure what you are suggesting is an advance on what i have cobbled together, but I am happy to 'swim only in water where i can touch the bottom of the pool'.

stayhi128
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:33 pm

Re: A New Look at Control Panels?

Postby stayhi128 » Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:33 am

grovenor-2685 wrote:When you say
stayhi128 wrote: The tablet strips move with the train - you can see trains 530 and 550 are at the bottom of the panel, indicating they are in the scenic section.

Do you mean that the operator moves them by hand? Or have you some mechanical gadget?


As in ATC procedures, the operator moves the tablet strips by hand.


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