At last "Live" frogs

The frustration of my shunt loco pausing all the time on a set of peco code 75 electrofrog points compelled me to take up the challenge of modifying the point to make the frogs live.

I consulted the Peco leaflet that comes in the box when you buy a point to look at how to wire the turnout.  Seemed quite straight-forward although later I would realise that one thing that was missing was the connection/feeders from the point to the track bus.

For the activation mechanism, I used two crappy and cheap looking steel hangers from the wife's wardrobe.  To automatically activate the frog, I used micro-switches.

Here is a video that demonstrates what happens when the frogs aren't live...

Here is a drawing of how I wired my point to make the frogs live:

Here is a photo of the rats nest under the base-board:

Hope this helps someone out there.

Border District Visit

Last Saturday, Darren, Craig and myself made our way to Anthony's for a running session.  After an overview of the layout the decision was made to begin the session.  However, there was an issue with the NCE Powercab that Anthony had.  The chip version was 1.65, but we could not get cab address 5 to register.  We had to resort to three controllers.  After about 30 or so minutes of this delay I was tasked to get the first train out which happened to be The Overland with the lovely S Classes back-to-back for motive power.  In my haste to get things moving, I had forgotten to ask for authority and was summarily given a earful by the host.

Once authority was granted, it wasn't long before the Overland came to a stop, hitting a kangaroo en-route! However, the delay was small and both locos made it safely to Tatiara Downs, where a crew-change was pending.

The rest of the afternoon I was tasked to shunt Tatiara Downs.  Things became very busy very soon and I found myself running little behind as Goods trains came in to pick up loading that I had not got ready!  The Y Class shunt loco sounded wonderful going along its merry way picking up and dropping off wagons at designated locations.

Maybe next time my roster will be better and get to do some main-line running.  At least I will be careful not to have any SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger) incidents!

Below are a few photos of the session, taken at Tatiara Downs.

A very enjoyable afternoon made even better with some fantastic company in the form of Anthony, Darren, and Craig.

 

Signalling and Control

I have been working on implementing some sort of signalling system on the layout.  Since this layout is basically a shunting layout, I needed something to act as a checking mechanism before moving the loco from one location to another, as I seem to forget to change the appropriate points.  This mechanism is in the form of a small LED signal on a control panel.  I wired up a few LEDs and some switches and made a mock control board.  Now, before a loco moves, I need to give the signal.  This extra step will ensure I have moved the points first.

The control board in the photo is for entry into the yard coming from the Serviceton area.  I still have to do a similar sort of set up for the Melbourne end, which will be alot easier because there is only the main line.  This control board will replace real model signals on the layout at this section and it kind of works because the signals cannot be clearly seen from the main operating area.  Hence, I will be able to get away using a signal gantry with static signals on them as illustrated in the photo showing the mock semaphore gantry.

The main yard will have Searchlight signals for the main line and Road 2, but not sure how I am going to control the yard tracks, maybe with a Dawf signal for main line exists only.  Still need to think about that....

Control panel for signals 

Gantry

Signal Board and shematic

Waiting for the stick