Hi All, I see that there are some layouts that have control panels, could I see some pic's of some of yours so I can get a idea on what would be good for my layout?? it's a nscale around the room shelf, with a main classification yard, my staging yard will be just below the yard, I'm going to have walk around throttles of course, I really just need a panel so I can control my staging yard, Thanks for the info!!! Trainsrme1
Hi,
Folks with DCC often have no control panels per se, as the likes of Digitrax and NCE are hand helds. For turnout controls, many will put them on a small piece of ply attached vertically to the fasia, or embedded in the fascia itself.
DC folks tend to have main control panels, some really elaborate.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
That´s the control panel I built for my tiny layout:
The layout is a simple oval with one stub-end track, one switch, one signal and three blocks. My walk-around throttle plugs into it and there is a switch for the building lights.
It´ll look much nicer once the facia is installed.
Interlocking machine of NYCT at the Court Street Station:
Interlocking machine of BroadwayLION at 242nd Street:
Any similarity is purely intentional.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Mel, that is a really nice piece of work! Obviously its DC, and I'll be it is really fun to use.
mobilman44 Mel, that is a really nice piece of work! Obviously its DC, and I'll be it is really fun to use.
I make my panels from plastic-coated Masonite, which is sold as "shower liner." I built the frame from 1x2 lumber and stained and polyurethaned it to match the benchwork.
FYI, I used automotive pin-striping tape to "draw" the lines on the panel. It is durable, but can be peeled off if necessary to change the diagram. When I add a new siding or whatever, it's easy to add another line to the panel and maintain a consistent apperance.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
My DCC HO layout panel is made per a MR article of early 2012, I recall. The face is aluminum sheet, maybe 5/32" IIRC. Used to control my Tortoise switch machines, plus power LEDs for my 3 subdistricts.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Mine were built so My younger Son's at the time would be able to know at a glance, what controlled what...so I opted for an almost identical track plan on the panel. With DPDT center off toggles for block control and normally open push buttons with route indicator lights that stay lit for turnout route. All layout lights, street lights etc. are controlled from same panel, with a circuit controlled by on/off push buttons with light indicator. Every circuit has it's own power supply transformer fused also in the panel. Train throttle control is done with MRC CM 20's, hand helds....I don't use the outputs for anything else. Base is 1x8 cut to shape and carriage bolted to facia. Front swing down cover (with piano hinge) is clear Lexan with back side spray painted black, white routing stripes are 1/8 Automotive pin stripe tape. Toggles are sub-miniature, numbered on side to correspond with block numbers on the Euro terminal barrier strips. I do run DCC with sound engines on the layout...but mainly for the Grandkids.
Panels were a little dirty at time of pic's, was working on that whole section, but they clean up great with windex. This is one of three...the East end, in 15ft Industrial section. The other two are basically the same, but with rotary break before make switches in place of the toggles, for 3 cab control. This panel will eventually have them also.
There is a ground fault 20amp surge protector control behind the panel
Take Care!
Frank
I don't know about good looking, it depends on just what you want. But here are two that I just built and wired up over the holidays.
My layout wraps around three walls and I have switching panels on each. I tried to make operation of the panels as obvious as possible for inexperienced guest operators. The line colors indicate different branch lines, with heavy lines for mains and thin lines for spurs and sidings.
Bicolor LEDs show the turnout position. I just hooked them up in series with power to the Tortoises. Switching on the second panel is critical to preventing mishaps because the two branch lines share track. So I hooked up two LEDs in series but with polarity reversed, so that the colors reverse when the turnout is switched. Green is go, orange is don't go.
I built the panels out of 1x2 lumber with shoe molding on the edges of the face. There is just enough difference in the dimensions to create a ledge for mounting the panel board. I used hobby ply for the board and glued it in place on the ledge. The graphics were created using Panel Pro editor and printed on photo paper. A plastic sheet over the top protects it. Drilling through the plastic sheet has to be done carefully but it is possible with patience and the right drills.
Like others already posted the panels are attached with piano hinge on the bottom so they swing down when the top screw is removed. This made it easy to do the wiring, solder to the switches and LEDs, and to make connections to the terminal blocks located under the layout, all with the panels mounted.
Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger... doing it my way. Now working on phase 3. - Walt
For photos and more: http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/
My layout is DC-powered, but I don't have much in the way of a control panel - a few switches on the fascia to control power to the various tracks, a switch to control track direction on the turntable and a rotary switch to select the various tracks off the manually-powered turntable.
As I'm the sole operator, only one train runs at a time, so the wiring is very simple.
Wayne
RR_Mel I have always made my control panels so that little ones could operate my layout, worked for my kids when they were little ones and it’s still doing it’s thing for my grandkids as well as great grandkids.
Hi MRR Mel
I did the same thing for my grandkids. Very simple and color coded, and named (mountain or river road)
lee
This is an interesting topic because I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to make the control/status panels that my new layout is going to need. My current plan is to construct panels using 5mm wood backing panel, thin clear plexi/lexan, and a printed out diagram sandwiched between the wood and plexi panels.
I plan to have control/status panels for both the hidden lower and upper return loop/staging areas. I also have 'remote' DCC boosters and circuit breakers in both these areas so I also plan to have LED status indicator lights for the circuit breakers/reverse controllers on the panel.
Most of the layout (all visible track) will just have turnout control toggle switches and status LEDs on the fascia adjacent to the turnouts.
This is my current proposal for the (hidden) lower return loop and staging track panel:
This is the proof of concept I hornschwaggled together this morning on the layout. This panel will be located between the 1x4 open grid lower level benchwork and the 3/4" plywood and 3/4" foam that will be used as the base for the city above the hidden return loop/staging track. The control/status panel is recessed behind the open grid benchwork and about 3/4" behind the edge of the plywood/foam/fascia city base in order to minimize the chances of accidentally pressing the turnout control toggle switch/buttons.
Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.
- Photo album of layout construction -
yankee flyer RR_Mel I have always made my control panels so that little ones could operate my layout, worked for my kids when they were little ones and it’s still doing it’s thing for my grandkids as well as great grandkids. Hi MRR Mel I did the same thing for my grandkids. Very simple and color coded, and named (mountain or river road) lee
Actually my oldest grandaughter was my first "guest operator" with the new panels, just last weekend. Still a little too young to work the throttle, but she managed the turnout switches for me just fine. When I get a loop closed up again she should be ready to control a train.
Good discussion- I think we are proving that good panel design depends a lot on the layout, how it functions and who is going to operate it.
HObbyguy Actually my oldest grandaughter was my first "guest operator" with the new panels, just last weekend. Still a little too young to work the throttle, but she managed the turnout switches for me just fine.
Actually my oldest grandaughter was my first "guest operator" with the new panels, just last weekend. Still a little too young to work the throttle, but she managed the turnout switches for me just fine.
BroadwayLion Interlocking machine of NYCT at the Court Street Station: Interlocking machine of BroadwayLION at 242nd Street: Any similarity is purely intentional. ROAR
Ahh WOW
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
I made a control panel layout in Microsoft Paint and had it printed and laminated at Staples. Mounted it onto 1/4" plywood and drilled and mounted my toggle switches onto it. Also happened to be for my staging yard. I color coded the print with the intent of color coding the track (using colored electrical tape) making it easier to identify track and control. Very simple to do and it looks very presentable.
Technically, it's not a control panel, but you might want to look at my photo in the gallery section titled, Proto-Freelance Tower Board Built with Prototypic Specs and Indicator Lights, in the Photo Galleries section. I made it complete with scratchbuilt indicator lights (no one makes the indicator lights I needed to make this look like the real thing). The indicator lights are 12 mm in diameter and powered by LEDs.
Here's the link to the gallery photo if you can make it work or copy it to your browser.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/m/mrr-layouts/2290660.aspx
It is lifesize, the same size at it would have been in a real tower, 2.5 x 5 ft. I drew it up in 3rd Planit and Paint and a local sign printer printed in the exact colors I wanted on 1/8" thick PVC fron a converted PDF file. The cost was about $135, but if you are making smaller control panels, your work obviously will be relatively less expensive.
I'm working on an article with better photos on how I built the board, indicator lights and armstrong, levers, circuits, working signals, etc., if that is something that Model Railroader might be interested in. No software is being used for the signaling. If you can do standard model railroad wiring, you can do this.
Victor A. Baird
Fort Wayne, Indiana