I could never see the use of these things but over in Ireland i saw a really good set and was impressd am working that way with my own layout. What do others think.
Rgds Ian
Ps It was at a friend of mines layout "The Old Deanery Layout" at a place called Cloynes in County Cork
Ian, are you talking about a trackside diagram of the whole layout? If you are these are used alot in smaller scales to show switches, power blocks, and isolated track sections. These are usefull when having visitors and conducting railroad operations on your layout.
Matt mate i can always rely on you to say something quiet, worthwhile and sensible when there is rubbish all around, as their is often on this forum.
Yes it shows in a schematic fashion where all your points are and each sector of track connected to them. It will also show you if there is a loco in any particular sector and maybe even which loco it is!
I have seen them in just about every switch box and railway control room i have ever looked into here in Australaia.
But as i can not see all af my track from any vantage point, it would also be a big help to know where they are each; loco i mean after all i cannot just look up to see anything, if it around the corner as much of my layout is!.
Say you want to run your layout off a computer a mimic diagram on the computers screen would be nice, wouldn't it?
rgds Ian
They are a good idea especially if you cannot see all your track . Downside is that this is normally not feasible on a large scale on the grounds of cost or practicality.
http://www.gatewaynmra.org/detection1.htm
http://www.digitrax.com/menu_detectionsignaling.php
optical detection is unlikely to function well outside and current detection is only ok if you own a cable manufacturing company.
Would be a real challange i suspect
I have read articles in Model Railroader on block detection and working signals, I seam to remember a system that detected a simple diode I believe hanging from the wheels the a sensor of some sort detected it and lit the signaling lights. I read the above post by(? new forum doesn't show in the replys) I believe he's right that outdoors would present a challange I really don't understand wether or not MTS is a true DCC system or much about DCC I read the articles and try to understand them but it still remains a gray area to me. I wonder if it could be wired like an accessory rather than an MTS.
I'm still shocked I got the notification to reply, took me forever to figure that out.
Yes i thought all this and i wasn't interested, too much action for too little result, howver LGB and Bitswitch do have a track detection module to be used in conjunction with your display module. You do have to block wire your layout but only one wire per sector and i can do it pretty easily on my layout. Also each module will only do four sectors, i think they are about US60 - 80 each The track detection module is a big help if you wish to automate various switches on your layout;as well. I think they only need about 150 ma of currect to detect a a presence.
I only need four sectors if i wish to convert my Area two and the reversing loops in Areas 1 and 3 but if i wish to incorporate my loop in Area 3 i will need another 4 sectors to be converted and again i can do it pretty easily as far as wiring is cincerned. Howver i am about to put in an "El" that will connect area 3 up with the reversing loop in area 1 and if i do that i will need more modules again;only one of each probably.
So it is not all that costly nor will it be hard to do from a wiring point of view but i think i might need a younger brain to work the rest out?
No mate it isn't my way either.
By the way that should have been 15 ma not 150 ma.
In any case i am going to give it a go. My freind in Irelend also has a method of using a normal computer programme and printer to print out the necessary lines and notes for your mimic diagram and then all you have to do is to get it laminated.
Hi iandor
These have there uses and can be very helpful for guests and on parts of the layout you cannot see.
The track section colours are Blue & Yellow for the Up line and Brown and Green for the Dn line.
Sidings that are not cct the beginning is shown in black ie yards.
Added later track cct's are show in Red.
I would suggest an engraved and painted aluminium panel would be better for out door use with waterproof LED and switch housings rather than lamps but that may be too expensive.
I would make a small local pannel first to get things right on that one, and standardise the componants as much as possible for ease of repair and try to make it a unit replacement type set up.
regards John
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Thanks John that was a great help i was so impressed i printed it out.
Hey John mate what does cct stand for?
Ian
cct Is the abbreviation for circuit.
Sorry slipped into jargon we use at work
I have decided ti put this matter on the backburners for a while,as i am taking a different approch to the automation of my layout. ie not LGB. I think i am going with Bitswitch, has anyone any experience with them?
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