Model Railways

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Woo, that's a bit trippy. Fantastic though.

[Valle]

This is my Roco E 91.0. This model needs a little bit of attention with fresh grease and oil, just like most of my collection. Maybe I'll manage to get to that next month.

[Geo Ghost]

I have a new addition to my collection of models.
Something very different from usual.

I'm now the proud owner of my first O-Gauge model. A Dapol A1X Terrier

An absolutely amazing little model. I'd even go as far to say this is actually a really sweet and cute little engine.
Even though I don't have an O-gauge layout, nor do I plan on having one either. But, I always said if someone did a ready-to-run terrier then I would get it.
Absolutely love the little engines, and I my initial intention was to have a display model in a case. Short diorama piece to have on a shelf, and occasionally run it at our local club.

Got a chance yesterday evening to give it some running in and wow. It just looks fantastic! I only put one or two wagons on plus a brake van, and it really suited. It just looked perfect
So all in all, I'm very glad I decided to treat myself. Lovely little thing!

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[Nawdic]

Hornby have done a 00 gauge terrier before now.

[Geo Ghost]

Oh indeed they do! I have three of them Plus a Dapol OO model.

Yeah... I am a tad Terrier mad. I know.

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I was browsing for new wallpapers and I stumbled upon this. Now its obviously a model train, but the flora on the side looks almost real. A few friends have looked at it, and they're convinced it is. How is this achieved in a feasible manner considering the watering / pruning / electronics, or have us three all being fooled by very good looking fakes?

Another question, does anyone have a circuit diagram for their set, or detailed photos of the wiring underneath they wouldn't mind sharing? I'm a little lost on how to put it all together in an efficient and cost effective way for controlling / working signals and points. I'm probably going to operate mine from an Arduino or Raspberry Pi located under the board (Which one I use depends on the required processing power for what i'm looking at)

[PikkaBird]

I was browsing for new wallpapers and I stumbled upon this. Now its obviously a model train, but the flora on the side looks almost real. A few friends have looked at it, and they're convinced it is. How is this achieved in a feasible manner considering the watering / pruning / electronics, or have us three all being fooled by very good looking fakes?

Eh, pretty sure that's a (really badly done) fake tilt shift of the real thing.

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I was browsing for new wallpapers and I stumbled upon this. Now its obviously a model train, but the flora on the side looks almost real. A few friends have looked at it, and they're convinced it is. How is this achieved in a feasible manner considering the watering / pruning / electronics, or have us three all being fooled by very good looking fakes?

Eh, pretty sure that's a (really badly done) fake tilt shift of the real thing.

Well perhaps we were fooled far more than we realised then...

[Dave]

There was a bloke in Wales who was notorious for tilt-shifting everything in sight for a while. Maybe this is him. It doesn't look very model like - rails and train too, er... realistic.

FWIW (not a lot) I despise tilt shift, especially when it's used by every single media outlet at the start of news features. GRRR.

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Well, minorly embarassing all three of us were duped by that image then.
Hopefully someone can still help on the latter part though.

Another question, does anyone have a circuit diagram for their set, or detailed photos of the wiring underneath they wouldn't mind sharing? I'm a little lost on how to put it all together in an efficient and cost effective way for controlling / working signals and points. I'm probably going to operate mine from an Arduino or Raspberry Pi located under the board (Which one I use depends on the required processing power for what i'm looking at)

[Ameecher]

Tilt shift has it's place can be a very clever effect but yes, it is massively overused. Like when Flickr just became full of HDR images. The odd one is effective, all of them just gets boring.

[Geo Ghost]

Another question, does anyone have a circuit diagram for their set, or detailed photos of the wiring underneath they wouldn't mind sharing? I'm a little lost on how to put it all together in an efficient and cost effective way for controlling / working signals and points. I'm probably going to operate mine from an Arduino or Raspberry Pi located under the board (Which one I use depends on the required processing power for what i'm looking at)

You may regret asking that...

I've done a lot of plans before. For my own layouts (Current, and planned) and also for our clubs layout.
However I do wiring quite differently to most. ALL the stuff I plan is split into sections, big or small, and made in such a way that it makes it possible to switch between DC, and DCC running.
I also plan things out with no intention of using computers or such components. My route-setting idea for example uses an array of diodes, and the idea for my interlocking signalling uses banks of micro-switches and a matrix of wiring and diodes.

FY_ Control_Wiring_MK2_UPDATED.png

Wiring plan for our Fiddle-Yard control panel. The plan allowed us to switch each lane individually on or off, between either the Fiddle-Yard controller, or the main layout controller.
It also allowed us to be able to isolate any section or spur.

But the biggest thing was that it laid out the possibility of having a 'route-setting' plan for points, rather than an individual switch for each one. See next photo!

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FIddleyard Point Wiring.png

Wiring for point work on our fiddle yard is pretty simple in theory. Diodes are fitted so the points only throw when power is supplied from one area. I don't go into the details. All you need to know is that it works... bloody well! ^^

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The Matrix for a platform starting signal, with interlocking.
Using this plan, the signal will only come off red if the points are set correctly.
If they are not, trying to set it will do nothing.
If set into a yard, the sub-signal will display. If taking a certain route, the feather will light up. When a train passes it (and over the IR detector), it will reset to red. Cleaver little things :)
The White boxes represent the micro-switches under the point motors.

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Another Matrix, this time for a platform entry signal.
Like before, this signal will only come off red when the route is set properly. If a point is against the route, the signal won't change.
Difference with this one, is that the theatre box will display the appropriate platform number depending on how the points are set.
The White boxes represent the micro-switches under the point motors.

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[Geo Ghost]

And some more to cause head injury...

If you want some ideas of tips on how I've done mine, just ask
Shall be happy to share what I know!

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The under-side of one of our fiddle-yards fitted with the diodes for the route-setting idea.

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The under-side of one of our fiddle-yards fitted with the diodes for the route-setting idea.

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Wiring can be a messy, confusing business..

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The finished Fiddle-Yard Control panel, as per the diagram in the previous lost.

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Interesting (and neat) wiring. I'm trying to use RFID for my layout, no problems in that, the tech i've tried and tested works with 100% reliability in terms of train goes over reader, reads it and echoes back the id of the unit.

The problem comes with all the readers. I firstly need to wire them all up, and maintain the illusion and hide the cables above ground, secondly i then need to have an army of arduinos under the board to connect them all to, then some way (USB) of connecting all of them to a computer or server. So I need to learn how to do wiring in a neat, tidy and to the point fashion. Anyone who has seen my PC builds knows that i leave cables every-flipping-where. So I need to not do that, and use color co-ordination to track where things go and such. Furthermore, I also need to learn how to do the control box, so aside from automated control, one can take over (Because there is only so much fun in constantly watching a computer navigate trains without crashing them, sometimes you want a go yourself).

edit: replanned a bit, and shall try using infra-red. Tracking should be accurate, however unlike RFID it won't assign IDs to each train to know which train has just crossed which junction, sadly. It's projects like this that make me love China, and everything they churn out. Will also need to make sure I can control the IR beams so they can't affect a receiver down the map, perhaps find something that dampens any wayward beams and mix that into the scenery.

[Geo Ghost]

For neat wiring under the board, here's the trick I use.

I guess you know about the soldering side of it and tinning so I'll skip that

Only solder one end, not both to start with. Plot out where the wire will go and try to keep the wire as straight as possible. When you make turns, I do mine at 90' Degree angles.
To do this, I pinch the wire gentle with some needle-nosed pliers, and pull the wire around the tip. This makes quite a tight and neat bend, but not too much that may damage the wire inside.

Also, have a hot-glue gun handy. Every few inches, and just before/just after a bend, stick the wire down with a small blob of hot glue. This will hold it in place to the board neatly and stop it dangling around.
It does use a bit more wire this way, but it does make it a LOT neater, and a hell of a lot easier to trace faults.
We first tried it when re-wiring an old club layout and the advantages of it were tremendous.

Doing so means you can:
- Easily trace a fault or mistake
- Keep all the wires secure and reduce the chance of them being snagged
- Generally keep everything much neater
- Makes it easier to remove wires and make changes without having to untangle many others.
- And it also looks pretty cool too!

Also, don't forget Terminal Blocks and TAG boards/Strips are your best friends!
I usually have wires coming from the track/points straight into Terminal blocks under the layout, then onwards to where they need to go. That way if I there is a mistake, short, or some kind of change that needs to be made, it can be done a lot easier without the need for un-soldering wires from a tag or something.
Tag Boards or Tag Strips are handy for when you have everything coming in from the main cable or connector. A bit like the starting point/end point. But don't do what someone on our old layout did and wrap wire around the tag, then solder it. It makes it a bloody pain to try and remove if you need to!

Finally... plastic sleeving and P-clips. If you have any kind of connectors between boards, remember these items.
Wrap up groups of wire in plastic sleeving going to a connector to keep them all together, and screw one end down in a P-Clip to secure it. That way if the connector gets pulled or snagged on anything, it is the P-Clip that takes the strain rather than your soldered joints and the wire itself. Avoids anything getting damaged You should be able to see an example of that in a couple of the images I attached above.


Anyway, that's the way I have learnt to do my wiring over the years.
Bare in mind, I'm no expert. Everything I've done has been through trial & error, and I'm pretty much self-taught. Simply learnt things as I've gone along
When it comes to circuit boards and computer control... that still goes right over my head at present! Still have yet to learn that area of things.

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Does anyone have seperate boards that combine into the end product instead of one big one d? If so how do your tracks connect through the point of match? I'm thinking two metal prongs soldered to track, when together they'd pass the current and hopefully trains with it...

If any has any better ideas, do say. It'd be a set that'd likely be being dismantled frequently so needs a bit of longevity and not too fragile.

[Geo Ghost]

A plug?

[arikover]

Tilt shift has it's place can be a very clever effect but yes, it is massively overused. Like when Flickr just became full of HDR images. The odd one is effective, all of them just gets boring.

(I know it's a bump but)
I always wondered whether a kind of reversed tilt-shift existed: you take a photo of a model train and it looks like a real one.

Well it appears it exists. You have to take the same photo with different focus, and a software (CombineZ) just keeps the parts where the photo is clear. The result is quite astonishing. Did anyone of you guys already tried that?

Here you can see a model wagon

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A plug?

Oh. Did I needlessly overcomplicate how difficult that'd be then? the first plot was to simply use standard fishplates and carefully connect it all back up, but that seemed unfeasible and quick to break.

[Geo Ghost]

If it's just two tracks, a simple DC plug/socket will do the job!
If you've got a load of tracks and points, use a couple D-Sub connectors (Plug and socket).

That's what we use Easy stuff!
http://www.allcomponents.co.uk/category ... s-939.html