My layout is a large 20' x 24' double deck walk around. Right now I am struggling a bit with control panel location.
Option 1 and my original plan is one main panel per town. The panel will have momentary pushbuttons to activate the tortoise machines, lights for turnout position and lights for block occupancy. This could result in at operator having to walk 5 or 6 feet to throw a switch. While not bad it could get old when switching industries
Option 2 is individual panels at eash switch or group of two to three switches. This would prevent the walking but may not be as clean as a signle panel.
Also thinking block occupancy lights on a local control panel are redundant when one can just look at the track. I will still put in block occupancy for signaling and ctc.
Thoughts on the panels?
- Bill Rutherford Lancaster, NH
Central Vermont Railroad
B Rutherford My layout is a large 20' x 24' double deck walk around. Right now I am struggling a bit with control panel location. Option 1 and my original plan is one main panel per town. The panel will have momentary pushbuttons to activate the tortoise machines, lights for turnout position and lights for block occupancy. This could result in at operator having to walk 5 or 6 feet to throw a switch. While not bad it could get old when switching industries Option 2 is individual panels at eash switch or group of two to three switches. This would prevent the walking but may not be as clean as a signle panel. Also thinking block occupancy lights on a local control panel are redundant when one can just look at the track. I will still put in block occupancy for signaling and ctc. Thoughts on the panels?
Each of my turnout control panels covers an area roughly 10-12 feet. I don't find it at all incovenient to throw a switch. I have wireless walk around throttles. For route control, I throw the switches well before the train reaches the turnout. For industrial switching, the panel is usually no more then 5 feet from the turnout that needs to be thrown.
B Rutherford My layout is a large 20' x 24' double deck walk around. Right now I am struggling a bit with control panel location. Option 2 is individual panels at eash switch or group of two to three switches. This would prevent the walking but may not be as clean as a signle panel.
Hi Bill.
I am much more inclined to use option B. I prefer to have the control for the turnout close to that turnout. Since I have a continuous facia on both levels of the layout, a small spot in the facia for name or diagram of the track with a turnout control is not a big deal.
Just prefer the on location feel to the tower or dispatcher feel of a remote panel.
Scott Sonntag
Thank you both. Just like so many things in this great hobby, two different opinions. :)
B RutherfordThoughts on the panels?
For me, not that much thought at all on control panels. I do have ON/OFF fascia-mounted switches to control which tracks are active or not, and there are also a number of electrical switches to control some turnouts which are otherwise out of reach. The rest of the on-layout turnouts are finger activated (to flip the points into the proper position), while those in staging yards are controlled with Caboose Industries ground throws. I also use Blue Point turnout controllers, too, mostly for hard-to-reach turnouts.
A few photos...
These fascia-mounted switches no longer get used much at all....
They were installed mainly so that I could choose from a number of walk-around throttles, with which to run trains. Once I got my Stapleton throttle, I seldom use the other ones.
The power for the trains, an MRC ControlMaster 20, is visible under the layout, while one of the plug-ins for the walk-around throttle can be seen to the right. There are another 5 mounted on the fascia at different points in the room, plenty enough with a 25' cord on the throttle. The train will continue to run with the plug removed, as I follow it and move on to the next plug-in point.
This is the fascia at Lowbanks, where there's a turntable, the toggle switches controlling power to a variety of in-town tracks and the rotary switch controlling which turntable track gets power or not.The scratchbuilt turntable is not motorised - strictly finger-controlled, while the pinball-style knobs control otherwise hard-to-reach turnouts, through Blue Point switch machines.
The turntable tracks are controlled by this rotary switch...
I have a number of staging tracks, all activated or de-activated by fascia-mounted toggle switches....
These control power to the individual tracks in the staging yard, and I'll soon be adding a couple more tracks...
These unlabelled ones control the turntable at Mount Forest, along with the rotary switch for the tracks in the roundhouse. I had powered the turntable, from Walthers, using a motor out of an old scanner. While it worked well enough, I had no way to index it, so removed the motor. It's currently finger-powered.
My layout is strictly DC, so only one train is running at a time, and I generally follow it around the layout, stopping to perform switching moves, then carrying on to the next town for more of the same. I do allow visiting friends and relatives to run trains if they wish, but for regular operations , I'm the sole engineer.If I'm running especially-long test trains, I can utilise well over a dozen locomotives if necessary, and pretty-well always walk alongside of the trains.
There are two lift-outs at the train room's entrance, usually in place only when operations are being conducted....
Wayne
Bill.
Larry Pucket the DCC guy on YouTube just did an episode on building a wireless control panel for his railroad. He used DCC specialty equipment and tortus ground throws. You could make a pair and take them with you when operating.
Pete.
My first layout had a 48 inch long control panel for the entire thing.
My second layout had three similarly sized control panels and a few smaller along the way.
As my layouts have progressed, I have decided smaller panels that only control what is nearby is the way to go.
-Photographs by Kevin Parson
I guess I am an "Option 'B' Man".
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I have a small panel in the main yard, thats it but my layout is small. On my last layout that was just as big as yours but not double decked I did the same thing as had walk arround there too but that layout was DC as current is DCC.
It appears that operating using a dispatcher is not high on any of the responders layouts. The dispatcher usually acts as the tower man establishing and switching routes as well as train priorities
Bill,
My layout may be similar to what you have. I have 20’x20’ 2 level layout, all walk around, no duck unders. It’s designed for operations with a total of 6 operators. There are signals on the upper level which are controlled by the dispatcher. I have 2 dispatcher panels right next to each other, which control 2 interlocking main line switches on the upper level. The yard has a separate panel, controlled by the yardmaster. Any industries off the mainline have their own panel which is controlled by the operator switching out that area/industry.
At one time I had some switches that a dispatcher controlled as well as the yardmaster, but it became more prevalent to have the yardmaster control it.
The lower level is for staging trains and is operated by whomever is getting a train of sending it to staging. Panels are at each end of staging, so an operator doesn’t have to run to both ends to pull out or put back a train.
Neal
I built three control panels for my first 5x12 foot section. The idea was that the panels could actually be repositioned from one side of the layout to the other. That turned out to be sort of silly, and I never actually did it. I added two more panels as the layout expanded.
I did a few area with stationary decoders, so the panels were just turnout position indicators. I also realized that I preferred real panels.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thank you everyone for your replies.
I have decided on a main panel for staging and another for the yard. Beyond that there will be individual push buttons at each switch. The push buttons will tie to DS,-64 and DS-74s.
I am also going back and modifying blocks on trackwork I have already started to allow for signaling. These new blocks would require many more occupancy lights on the panels which seems like it would be too much clutter. Another good reason to drop the multiple panel idea.