The Russet Lines - a model railway project

[96RAF]

Send an email via the contacts page on my signature website and it be forwarded to me. I will reply from my regular email enclosing the files. Even though they contain more than 100 bits they will still open with the free copy of Scarm, but you won’t to be able to change them.

[Brew Man]

OK, will do.

EDIT: Ha! just noticed your original post in this thread with the measurements I asked you for face_with_rolling_eyes

[96RAF]

Some pictures of the latest state of play in no particular order, each as captioned before the image.. The garish board painting is in prep for static grass, water, ballast, etc so will no doubt blend in better then. Many details are very rough and not finished yet.

Reminder of the slide out section taken before the sidings were altered.

Left hand side of slide out section.

High level cross over at right hand side of slide out section.

High level station bay platform. Steps are from car park. Signal gantry will be converted to working leds.

Steps from car park to high level station. Platforms will be linked by a new footbridge.

Modified Dapol footbridge which will link the platforms above.

Tram line into underground car park with high level station above and goods yard.

Low level station. More canopies to be added. Extended Dapol footbridge.

Low relief industrial buildings carcass to gauge effect.

High level engine shed and lead in to low level through station. Buildings will hide junction blocks and acc decoder.

End of the tram line and rough outline of industrial buildings.

River bed, waiting for the rains to come.

Lost corner awaiting planning permission. Oil storage.

Diesel refuelling area and single engine shed.

Sidings.

Coal drop and work in progress steps from upper town to platform. Class 395 has stopped to pick up weekly coal ration for the crew.

Turntable. Mixed feelings about lost sidings for something that may get used on occassion.

Town over tunnel making progress. Houses will be replaced by more shops. There will be a car park of sorts in front left hand corner.

Sidings and Turntable. Scratchbuilt building with tall chimney yet to be designated a purpose.

Mirrored tunnel to sidings area.

Double track crossing with road tunnel to sidings and rail tunnel under the town.

Class 20 is on the rolling road - programming track area.

[The son of Triangman]

Layout is coming on nicely Rob. Great work so far.

[Howbi]

So much detail appearing, great progress Rob........H

[ellocoloco]

I do like that ALCo. I must admit to having three and the Yellow/Grey Taxi livery is my favourite - reminds me of BR large logo. Do any of Hornby's OO locos have the fan separately controlled? Electrotren did that 13 years ago on the 321 and nowadays on the likes of the Cavalex 56 and new Bachmann 47 its promoted as something special.

Its not too late to set the whole layout in Spain. Just make everything a lot less grey.......sunglasses

[96RAF]

Thanks - Nothing should be viewed at closer than arm’s length and only in a poor light. One day all the errors and omissions and scuffed bits will be corrected.

@eloco - both Ho locos are Electrotren that I use as test mules as they have 21-pin sockets and speakers fitted. 321 has a working fan electrically driven under function control. 278 has live panto with a track-panto switch on the main pcb. Superb locos with incredible detail. Hornby 00 locos with fans are all elastic band drive as far as I know - Class 31 and 56 are all I have with working fans.

[Brew Man]

It certainly packs a lot of detail in. I must say the Metcalfe models are superb. I've just completed my first one, the mainline station building with only a couple of minor errors. The level of detail is stunning.

[Fishmanoz]

Fantastic Rob, including the approach of progressive detail after overall essentials established and checked. Good learning for others.

[96RAF]

@fishy

I have to attend to the various elements as the mojo strikes. Some days it is scenic, other days sitting there happily gluing plastic bits together, other days fettling locos, some days I even get to run trains, including those Ho test mules.

Although the slide in section is a boon for general access when doing build and maintenance, the control desk is outwith the layout, so I still have to duck under if there is a loco stoppage or to check for a sticky point as I have yet to wire in point indicators.

What I could do with is a wireless walkabout controller, so it may be the iPad has to be brought into use. I could plug in the Select but most loco addresses are out of its range. Work in progress.

[96RAF]

Recently time has been spent wiring in magnet operated reed switches to the track at various strategic locations around the layout. These connect to a BBI-32 switch board that connects via USB to the Train-PC and interfaces with the software to control automated program running.

Each loco and last vehicle in a train will have 6mm diam x 10mm long neo magnets fitted to trip the reed switches.

The magnets were originally obtained to make magnetic couplings but that stays on the back burner for now.

I have tried to fool Railmaster into thinking I have pucka loco detection but as the switch board doesn’t use a comm-port RM does not recognise it.

Next job is to install simple R406 signal lamps that will also be auto-switched by the programs as locos pass the reed switches.

Thanks to Stingray for the software.

[The son of Triangman]

Coming on nice Rob, some good work there. I'm looking forward to building my new layout, nearly there with all the bits I need apart from scenics.

[96RAF]

Nothing much to show for physical progress on the layout of late, but I have installed R406 and DIY signals along with a load of reed switches for loco detection.

This shows the signal and sensor locations relative to the ‘stations’.

Auto-control of locos uses Ray’s superb self-written Trains-a-GoGo operating system, which sees the sensor outputs as a loco passes over them, then triggers programmed events to control the trains according to a pre-defined schedule. It illustrates what RM could do if Loco Detection was made available.

[96RAF]

A while since I showed progress.

Here is a wide angle shot of the train room.

Work continues with installing loco detection which is basic reed switches but I now have in hand some WiFi Tx-Rx modules that eliminate the wiring twixt the switches and the collector box that talks to the PC running Ray’s App. Essentially the sensors attach to the Tx module and the Rx module attaches to the BBI-32 collector box. These modules can cope with reed switches, Hall Effect or Infra-red sensors, which the collector box could not on its own.

Our electronics guru in Canada is developing fibre optic connection in case the WiFi becomes troublesome.

[wairoalbany]

Looks good. I am working on a layout about the same size.

[Bulleidboy]

Nice layout Rob - I always liked the idea of a "looped eight(?)" - once round is two circuits. I bet we all wish we had your space.

[96RAF]

A while since I posted any updates but I have been busy testing HM7000 kit and also working with Ed Cairns (Canada) on his isolation modules as used in TGG.

The layout is progressing slowly as seen in these recent pictures but it has a long way to go yet.

TGG is an application devised by forum member St1ngr4y as an improved successor to Rail-master. It is similar to RM but better, much better, including loco detection.

This is achieved by simple, cheap reed switches placed in track and operated by a neo magnet glued to rolling stock. The pulse is sent to a switch-box (ref Leo Bodnar BBI-32) which sends to the PC running TGG by USB.

Ed had noticed a possible fatal situation whereby if a loco derailed and shorted a reed switch to track power that could be felt by the switch-box and possibly the PC causing damage. To this end he designed opto-decoupling modules to isolate the sensors from the upstream devices.

Initially these were hard-wired to the reed switches but Ed wanted to reduce wiring so he tried radio Tx-Rx interlinking, however comms was unreliable and he elected to use fibre-optic linking instead which is bullet-proof. These modules are used for sensors on the far side of the layout with hard-wired modules retained for close at hand sensors.

This picture shows the fibre-optic Tx modules (1 and 2) powered by the track bus for convenience. Each module groups six track sensors.

This picture shows the fibre-optic Rx modules (1 and 2) and the hard-wired master and slave modules (3 and 4). Circled are a couple of in-track reed switches. The BBI-32 switch-box is hidden under the wiring centre picture. These modules are powered by a wall mounted PSU.

All modules cater for 2-wire reed switches but can also connect 3-wire Hall-effect sensors and 3-wire IR detector modules.

Ed already has his next version on the drawing board which will allow a motherboard to attach to the BBI-32 switch-box and have the option of plug-in fibre-optic or hard-wired sub-modules as required for a layout. This will cut down the footprint of the RX module end of the system and add versatility.

[96RAF]

Ed’s version 5 TGG loco detection system support modules, which updates theTx modules to 8-way and the Rx modules also 8-way to match, but now these plug into a motherboard, which also direct mounts the BBI-32 device and saves a ton of wiring.

These plug in Rx modules can be fibre-optic to connect to their distant Tx paired device or they can be a hard-wire module to connect direct to nearby sensors. All connections to the sensors have been made plug an play.

8-way Tx module - track powered with plug in sensors and fibre-optic comms link.

Motherboard with 3 x fibre-optic and 1 x hard-wire modules and the direct mount BBI-32 switch-box. There will be a chassis frame to support the assembly.

Compare with previous rat’s nest of wiring.

[37lover]

Rob,

Fascinating update re Ray's detection system and combined development. I have on occasion, like many others, voiced my frustration [and anger] at Hornby's failure to launch their loco-detection, or at least admit it isn't coming. Financial concerns have meant I have yet again postponed my full retirement and currently I wouldn't have time to do justice to trying Ray's system.

[96RAF]

Ray’s loco detection is so simple in its basic form. Track sensors (cheap reed switches) are placed in specific numbered locations around the layout. No need to cut track for isolated blocks, etc. Sensor locations are where they will allow time for an event to happen after they are triggered but exact location is not that critical.

Sensor output is fed via the reasonably priced BBI-32 switch-box to the PC running TGG. Compare with cost of other LD systems.

A program script is written that lists events same as in RM but instead of these events being sequentially timed, TGG events are controlled by sensor triggering. e.g. . . .TGG is told where the train is situated and the following events are actioned in sequence:

1. Set loco functions x y z to on.
2. Set loco 123 forward at speed xx.
3. Wait for sensor 1. (Nothing further happens until the train passes this sensor).
4. Set point A to platform.
5. Set signal to Stop.
6. Stop train in station.
7. Play announcement.
8. Pause for a while.
9. Set signal to Clear.
10. Start train.
11. Wait for sensor 2. (As above).
12. Set point A to mainline,
13. etc, etc

Multiple programs can be run in concert as a schedule, with interlocking against collisions controlled by triggering of sensors.

Ed’s hardware overcomes several things to make the TGG LD system more robust:

• significantly cuts down on wiring surrounding the BBI-32.
• The fibre optic based “star topology“ eliminates the need for long sensing wire runs.
• It supports either nearby hardwired or remote fibre optic sensor modules.
• The sensor inputs can be of the reed switch, or Hall Effect, or IR type.
• It can be configured into various groups of eight - hardwired or optical 
•  It provides excellent electrical isolation protection in case of an accidental track/sensor contact.
•  On board LEDs aid troubleshooting as do easily swapped modules.
• Parts count and assembly time has been reduced from previous designs.
• Self resetting Fuses provide significant system protection 
• Future module designs can be implemented without the need to redesign the whole system.

The best thing is it all works extremely well and both Ray and Ed are to be highly commended for the effort they have put into the project.