Sequential Operation

Previously I commented on how I was operating my layout and although that was fun, it got me thinking what if I ran one movement from staging, through the station, then back to staging - basically operating the continuous layout in a point-to-point fashion.

So, lately, after work I have now been running one movement just like this and it really does feel alot more realistic and prototypical.  I have 19 movements to complete and on two occasions, there is either a meet or cross.     All trains have to stop at the station for a crew change.  This makes the operating session stretch out little. 

Every evening, I may run maybe 3 or 4 movements which takes about 30 mins, then do some odd job in the shed and then close off for the day.  Very relaxing!

I currently have five staging tracks, so I had to create a shelve to cater for the extra wagons and rolling-stock which is near the staging/fiddle tracks.

The following is the list of movements

-->

1	DN	JET
2	UP	THROUGH
3	DN	THROUGH
4	UP	GOODS
5	DN	PAPER	CROSS with 6
6	UP	JET	CROSS with 5
7	UP	RM
8	DN	GOODS	Wait for 9
9	DN	GRAIN	Road 1
10	DN	RM
11	UP	CATTLE
12	UP	LE
13	UP	SUPERPHOSPHATE
14	UP	BONO
15	DN	CATTLE
16	DN	FAST GOODS
17	DN	SUPER
18	UP	FAST
19	DN	BONO

Here are some photos from the ops:

Scenery Bug

Spent some time working on the scenery since I have neglected this area of the hobby for some time.
After visiting Geoff's place and seeing his layout, I was inspired to spruce up some areas of the layout.  I tried my hand at making some bushes and also tried to bring up my standard on some of the trees I made.  I noticed that I needed some variety. 

Still a good working in progress and a long learning curve.  Unfortunately I don't seem to have the nack for scenery when compared to other folks out there.

Broken Gear

I was running an UP Jet freighter with two S Classes back-to-back and the rear unit kept derailing.  I knew it had a broken gear in one of the wheel-sets on the B end.

It wasn't too difficult to remove the cover-plate holding the wheels in place. First, remove the side frames which comes out in one piece.  Then, use a small screwdriver to pry out one end of the cover-plate, and when this is lifted up, use a flat needle noise pliers to pinch the retainers and the cover-plate will lift out.  Replacing all three gears took about 30 mins.  She runs much better now.

Cracked Gear

 Cover plate at top Right of photo

Photo shows new gears installed.

Further focus on Electonics and Arduino

One thing I wanted to try and see if I could get working was the detection circuit which I had built for my signalling system using the Current Transformers.  So I went ahead and built another Detection Circuit for use with the Arduino UNO.  This will be used as a sensor.

The next step was to get another Arduino MEGA and Arduino Motor Shield, which arrived from the USA last week.  These are the genuine boards.  I downloaded and flashed the MEGA with the DCC++ program so I could now have two sets of DCC Systems, one for the train shed and one for testing pursposes here in my room inside the house.

I would use this system to now build up another arduino program to test detection using the current dectectio circuit I had built.  So, using one of the Analog Pins of the UNO, and setting this as INPUT, I was able to read the voltage on the Serial Monitor which was showing 5v with no detection and more importantly was showing 0v when detection occured, as the 555 timer is configured in bi-stable mode and initially the output of the 555 is set to HIGH.

Using some basic logic in the code I was able to tell the UNO to count the number of these detections.  As I told you in my previous post, I have a circuitous layout and every X loops representing distances between towns/stations, with one loop representing 1 mile. 

Wouldn't it be cool to have the UNO do the counting and then to show via LEDs or a Display where we are on the journey?  This is what I have been aiming to do.

The below two shots show the Voltage output from one of the PINs when there is not detection and when a detection has occurred.

This opens up a new world of interacting with the layout and interfacing this to a microcontroller!

Round and Round - with a purpose.

Since last time we met, I can say the layout is still the same LOL.   The only change made is the additional of Staging tracks which is unfortunately eaten into some ailse space.

I have been quite focused on the electronics side of things.  I am pleased to say that now I am running DCC++ with WIFI.  And what a step forward that is!  I really am enjoying using the Engine Driver app on my $30 mobile phone.  The WIFI server is no other than JMRI running on my old work laptop that they gave away.  Walking round the layout to view the layout from different perspectives and to be in control without being tied down is very enjoyable.

DCC++ runs on an Arduino Mega with a Ardino Motor Shield.  The guy who developed this open-source implementation of DCC is just truely brilliant.  The beauty of open-source!

I have also made progress on how I operate the trains.  I enjoy seeing the running of trains rather than the shunting aspect.  Call me childish, but what I am doing currently is running laps round and round, with one side of the journey being the town of Stawell in Western Victoria and the other is Horsham, a good 54 miles away.  What I do is run the inner loop which dipicts the country, and for every town/station, run once through the outer loop (which has a station and yard). 
Milage (and number of loops) between towns varies, for example between the towns of Murtoa and Jung is 7 miles, and between the towns of Murtoa and Lubeck it is 10 miles.
I used this chart as reference.
I don't really care if the same station is used for multiple locations on the journey from the beginning to the end.  Unforuntately as adults, we lose much of our imagination.

This concept allows me to run any train I choose with any number of rollingstock so makes for varied operation, just like the prototype.  One day, the Through Goods may have 12 wagons, and on another 7 wagons.  This gives me total freedom to run anything I like anytime.  No scripted operation.

It takes about 1 hour without any crosses or meets from the beginning to the end and it really does feel like one is putting on the mileage just like real locomotive drivers.  Sounds boring to alot of modellers, however I noticed that bringing the train into the inner loop when the corresponding Mile Post calls to run past the "town/station" breaks the monotomy.  And in real life, driving trains is kinda boring anyway.   It also throws out the challenge to test the rollingstock - how good are they to stay on the rails.  My four wheelers are doing very well.

I am also thinking about automating the counting of the inner loops (which represents 1 mile) using an arduino and displaying it on a 1.3 inch OLED screen.  I will start with a push button but then move to using a Current Transformer.  The program I am working on for this is progressing very well.   I have come to appreciate and understand just how little main memory these things have and need to move alot of the code to FLASH memory on the Arduino UNO, which only has 2Kb of SRAM.

This has opened up a whole new world of tinkering.  I haven't done any scenery work.


Arduino UNO with a OLED Screen on a breadboard

Enjoying my layout and the trains

I have been really enjoying the layout and running trains.  Infact this last weekend I have been also been doing alot of shunting.  The Brake feature on some decoders you find nowadays makes shunting so much fun.  I really use to detest pressing the buttons or thumb wheel repeatedly to stop a loco.  Now, with a press of a button I can bring a loco to a halt or ride the brakes.

Also have been doing some scenery work.  Pretty happy with the results so far.  The fence posts I think came out pretty good as well as the dried grass work which I did today.

I have been doing operations in the following manner all this week.

Basically I make up a train on the far side of the layout which is like a fiddle track.  All empties are located at the rear of the train.  Any loading that needs to come off is usually at the front.  At the main station, I pick up any wagons destined for any Eastern Locations, in my case, since I am modelling Western Victorian, mainly Dimboola station, I imagine any cattle wagons are full for Melbourne and any Tank wagons are empty.  I only have four sidings, namely Cattle, VR, Flour Mill and the Oil Siding, with the Goods Shed also available to generate inbound and outbound loads.

So with this I sometimes shunt the appropriate siding.  DOWN trains from Melbourne will shunt the Oil Siding and other Tank cars stay on the train for the journey further west.

Any new train I make up at the fiddle track comes into the station immediately, then after shunting will run a few laps of the inner loop.  This allows the feeling of the train actually clocking up some miles.

I did this type of movement six times during the weekend and enjoyed it.

I have also been playing round with some electronic projects in the space of external audio with a LM386 op amp but it didn't go too well.

Some video

Visit to Darren's Wattle Flat

Over the weekend we visited Darren's Layout, Wattle Flat.  As you can see, it is a superb layout with a very high level and modelling skill and ability on display.  We also got to see his new 442 class NSWGR locomotive which is fitted with the Version 4 Loksound Decoder.   The only word I can use to describe his layout is Perfect.

Brendan also bought his brass D3 Class steam locomotive and gave her a bit of a run on Wattle Flat.  I must also comment on Darren's hospitality which must extend to his wife and daughter who catered for us with a lovely hot meal and afternoon tea to wrap up the session.

Automatic Signalling Completed!

As I told you in my previous post, I was thinking about how to make the signals Automatic.
I am really pleased to tell you that I now have Automatic Signalling!!! I eventually worked out that connecting PIN 3 of the 555 timer to PIN 4 of the 556 resets the timer which means the signal turns back to green.  Now I have detection to turn the signal from Green to Red once the locomotive passes the signal and also then to make it change to Green!  I needed to build another 555 Detection circuit.  Had a lot of issues but finally got the circuit working.  I am absolutely stoked!  For me personally this is a huge achievement.  At times I was very frustrated and tempted to throw in the towel but I preserved.  These timers are pretty darn good for what can be done with them.

The video shows the signal going from Red to Green then back to Red, then to Green automatically just like the prototype.  It is not based on a timer, but Current Detection.
his is the DOWN signal.  Still need to build and deploy the UP Signal.  I spent the last 6 weeks just focused on this task.  The detection uses Current Sensing for total reliability.
I still have to "dress" the signals by adding a ladder and landing zones.

Some Ballasting work done - photos

The last few weeks I haven't done any further scenery work as I have still been engaged in the signalling part things.  Now that I have most of my fixed signalling in place, I was looking at how to use the 555 and 556 timers to
drive my Automatic signals - I thought it would be really cool to see automatic signals which were used on the Western line actually behave like the prototype - which is to automatically not only switch to Red when the train
passes the signal but also then change to Green before the approach of the next train.  As I told you previously, my inner loop represents all those country miles between stations and I am looking at placing automatic signals like these.
I think realistic signalling makes the layout so much more believable and is worth the time, frustration and effort.
In the mean time, here are some photos of some of the ballasting work that has been done.

555 and 556 Timers for Colour Light Signalling

It's been quite frustrating as I continue to build my signal circuits and have been all consumed in this task.  I had to build additional detection and signal circuits using the 555 and 556 timers.  I also delved deeper into the understanding of these ICs.  It wasn't easy until I leart about the Comparators inside these devices. This video helped alot.
After building one of them, and connecting it to the signal circuit, the LED would not stay on Green.  It would drop back to Red even without the detection circuit connected.  I even managed to blow two of the 555 timers and I couldn't work out whether I had the problem in the signal board or the detection board.
The smoke that came out at one time was quite impressive!
Eventually just by chance I found out the problem.  I had connected one of the polarity Caps the wrong way round. 
Still, replacing the cap didn't help.  I was about to then build a new circuit when I decided to remove the cap, diode and transistor and replace them with new ones.  I began to have some success.
Also the sensor wire connected to the board was another issue and was "flaky" holding on to the Green aspect. 

Another issue I had was the Yellow aspect would show instead of Red.  This meant that both red and green were ON at the same time (Pins 5 and 9 of the 556 Timer).  I couldn't work out what was going on.  After spending alot of time trying to find out the issue, I gave up in frustation and eventually built another Signal Circuit and put that one away for now.  So now I have a detection and signal circuit that needs to be looked at - should be a good trouble shooting task not!

I am now done with the 6 signals which covers entry and exit to and from the yard.  Eight signal and detection circuits were used as both the approach Home signals have a Low Speed Indicator to enter the Yard tracks or Road 2.
I think it's really cool to see the signals turn to the Red aspect as the loco passes the post, just like in real life.  I think the extra trouble is well worth it especially with this amazing little timers.

Now I need to think about how I am going to automate the Automatic signals which will be placed in the inner loop representing the connecting and country run between stations.  Not sure whether I should go down the Arduino path or stick with the Discrete components.

The Detection Circuits

Can you spot the incorrect capacitor?  It's difficult to do.

Test mock up

Blown 555 Timer

Signalling Bug

Unfortunately the Signalling Bug hit me over the last few days.  By this I mean I began to install Colour Light Signals on the layout.  Once I started I could not stop.  Unfortnately this has given way to doing scenery and also not running any trains

A few years back I build some searchlight signals and also some circuits to automatically change the Signals from Proceed to Danger once the train has passed the signal.  I really like seeing this just as it is in the prototype.

I also thought hard how to avoid the rats nest of wiring I ended up with last time in my eager to get it up and running.  So now what I do is secure the circuits to some ply and use this as some sort of work area. 

I ended up having to buy some 3mm bi-colour LEDs as some blew and only would show RED or GREEN.  What a pain it is to get them soldered back on.  Today was especially a frustrating day after seeing the Arrival UP Home signal not displaying the GREEN aspect.  So I soldered on a new LED and still no GREEN aspect.  Tracing back the enamel wire I had connect the wire for the GREEN leg to COMMON so I had to go through the whole exercise.  Very frustrating and sometimes I think is it really worth it.  But seeing the Signals light up really makes up for the frustration. 

Each Signal head that needs a detection circuit as well requires alot of wiring!  For the three signal I have, that is four such circuits, which includes the LOW Speed arrival signal which was used on SearchLight Signals back in the day.  Now I want to control all these signals from one are.  So each signal needs three wires to this panel which makes it 3 x 4 = 12 wires.  This is just for the DOWN end.  I also need to do the UP end.  Anyway here are some photos.

Schematic

Here's a video showing how the signals operate:

Ignore the Left Green Aspect at the beginning of the video as I was in testing phase:

https://youtu.be/9d6eaI0ONX4