# Long Time Coming - Skeena/Bulkley Valley 9.5' x 8'



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

I have FINALLY started construction on my layout after years of planning, reworking, acquiring materials, bench tests, etc. So I thought I would share.

First off, I would like to thank the community here for all the support, advice, and resources available.


Line is loosely based on the CN Skeena/Bulkley sub in Northern BC. I'm going to meld a bunch of the scenes and features together.

Prototype

Modern era
CN mainline with local yard
Coal, Grain, Intermodal thru traffic
Local petroleum, cement, scrap metal, and ballast cargo
Minimal passenger service
Model

N Scale
Mainline with small double ended yard for sorting local traffic (similar to Smithers BC yard)
No interchange or branch (no room)
Capable of point to point, or dummy mode full circuit
Limited, but still present switching capability (haven't had an opportunity to find out if I enjoy this aspect)
Local industries: Petroleum offload, ballast quarry, team track(s).
Thru traffic (no switching/sorting) Coal, Grain, Intermodal
DCC /w Digitrax block detection and transponding (will figure out later)
Standards

Minimum 75" passing sidings/hidden staging (15 intermodal units and two engines)
Modern clearances (required for intermodal)
2.1% maximum visible grade, 2.5% maximum hidden.
16.75" minimum visible curve, 14.75" minimum hidden
Peco code 55 rail
Construction

3/4" birch plywood crossmembers and sub roadbed
Large modular shelf design (8' x 42" x 10" modules)

Legend

Red - Mainline
Green - Passing siding/staging/AD track/yard lead
Blue - classification tracks
Yellow - industry spurs


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Crossmembers taken from SCARM into SketchUp.










Construction started on the left side of the layout.


















First layer of subroadbed down.


----------



## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

It looks like you have everything well thought out. This will be interesting to follow. Good luck.


----------



## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Looking good! 

Just a wild guess... Woodworker first, model railroader second.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

I've built a few pieces of furniture in the past, notably some aquarium stands from "scrap" wood from work. Would you believe they used 4"x4" clear red oak for dunnage for shipping spools of transmission line on flatcars? When I picked them up all I knew was they were heavy, the planer told the rest of the story.

For this project I really liked the idea of using 3/4" plywood over something lighter as the sub-roadbed to control vertical curvature. Its also intended to be mobile, at some later date I expect to be changing houses so it needs to be able to come apart and be transported. The combination really demanded a more dimensionally stable frame than possible with 1x4. I can get 13 ply cabinet grade plywood for the same price as fir right now, so why not.

What really surprised me was the difference in performance of these new jigsaws. Previous experience had been with my father's 30+ year old Black and Decker. This new 20V is amazing in comparison, *especially with a reverse direction blade that cuts on the downstroke, its extremely easy to keep on line. *I cannot stress this enough, I had no idea these blades even existed. I'm able to rival the table saw for straight cuts freehand!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Right side of the layout coming together. I have to finish the hidden track that spans both modules before adding the second layer.

You can really get a good sense of the overall size and grades now!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Managed to get the remainder of the right module frame pieces cut today. No photos, sorry.

In other exciting news I've decided (and ordered) the electronics.

Left Module
2x SE8C
2x BXP88
3x BXPA1

Right module
1x SE8C
2x BXP88

Along with 24 Tortoises, six remote Tortoise mounts and a PR4 USB interface.

I only have 21 turnouts on the plans, but I have some spare turnouts from previously laid plans and the right module has 4 spare detection sections between the BXP88s as well as two spare turnout control slots on the SE8C. I think doubling up the sidings would be a good use, maybe change the one south of the yard to a 2 track engine shed, and push a full second spur in the bottom lobe.

Track is all in stock, hopefully tomorrow I can get some more sub-roadbed laid.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Got the right side all glued and screwed together and cut the second layer of sub-roadbed for the left side. Still waiting on a razor saw and some soldering supplies to modify the turnouts before i get started laying track.


Just getting this on really starts to show the grades. Ignore that top piece, its just scrap I was using to check clearances. We got the cookie cut done right on the first try! No wasted plywood!


























Still need to trim up the inside of the curves in the tunnel areas for access, but it fits!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Oh, look! My turnouts are here!











Well not those ones but....










I know what I'm doing this weekend!


----------



## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

This weekend and next weekend and maybe the weekend after that.
That's a lot of TOs.

Magic


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

21 turnouts, there's a few spare in the pile. All needing to be modified for DCC...6 of which go all in a group on the back side and need to be completed before running any trains at all!


Just wait until I get to this part....


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Solid progress this morning. All the roadbed laid for the bottom level.










The CFO hadn't heard from the rail crew for a few hours so she dispatched the safety officer.










Test fit some track, only pinned down. Waiting on solder to arrive in the mail.










Couldn't resist. Clearances all good, I reduced the radius by 1/4" to add easements, look like they work great. Should be a very positive trade.


----------



## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Not seeing any pictures if you posted some.

Magic


----------



## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

I was able to see 5 photos and there was one. the fourth, that didn't post


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Its probably an image format thing. My iPhone uses HEIC files, ill convert it all to JPG this afternoon.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Uploading JPGs seems to have fixed the issue.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Got some tracks laid, feeders and all, almost have the reverse/staging loops done. Now I need to get the courage up to start modifying PECO turnouts...

I started trying to solder the feeders at the rail joiners, but it ended up just becoming a big mess, couldn't keep anything straight, then feeders were falling off, I just don't have enough hands. I settled on attaching feeders mid rail, cut 2 ties out solder to the bottom and replace ties. Looks neat and tidy, and I can focus on alignment at the joints.










I'm using 24 AWG stranded wire with silicone insulation, it doesn't melt or burn and strips really cleanly.










I'm not super happy with this joint, it looks worse than it is because the replacement sleepers are out of alignment due to the glob of solder. This is hidden track so it doesn't really matter, the train seems to run over it smoothly. The joint further up on the outside rail is much better, it was done prior to bending.










Nice and straight. Good to get the fundamentals down on the hidden tracks. Just have to make sure they run well, looking good is just a bonus.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Well, I cut up the first 6 turnouts. Soldered one, not my best solder work, but I didn't melt any ties.

I'm a bit ham fisted with a jewelers saw, took me three #3 blades for the first three turnouts. Managed to do the last three without breaking one.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Got the back side of the rear interlocking down, one side of the reverse loop connected. I'm sticking the track with latex caulk, then since this is all hidden and won't get ballast I'm giving it a wash with watered down white glue. This really helps to firm it up and it grabs those pesky loose ties.

Tomorrow? Power.


----------



## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

If you didn’t already, or didn’t think to do so, run a sanding block along the tapered edges of that cork. Any cork protrusions along the top will interfere with a nice slope of ballast, resulting in little cave like anomalies.

Looks fantastic. I’m clicking follow on this.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

So far all this is hidden trackage so no plans to add ballast, but point taken. That sharp edge would be difficult to hide nicely with ballast.

This morning I swapped out all the DC boards for DCC decoders, hooked up a single lead to the track and we were off to the races...well after I cleaned the glue off the rail head. Turns out they don't like that so much.

Now I need more track! All kinds of power and no where to go!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Quick test of the point work with some rolling stock. The layout isn't quite level where its sitting still needs to be rotated into place and shimmed, the tracks are at 1.8% instead of the designed 1.3%






Seems to roll smoothly without any rocking or hitches.


----------



## BigGRacing (Sep 25, 2020)

Rolls very nicely from the video for sure


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Back home from holidays!

A few new additions to the fleet.










I had some Christmas money too...so CN #2952 and #2898 are on their way.


First thing I did when I got home was pull up the inside staging track because that minor kink just ate at me over the break. I think the repair came out pretty good.


Before:










After:










It's still not perfect, but its much better. I think I can sleep again. Still need to straighten the filler ties. I don't think you would call those "kinks" any more, only visible sighting down the rail. I'll paint and ballast it, mostly for practice since its hidden, but I really want to see what the finished product will look like. Does the paint/ballast help hide minor imperfections?

Mail is super slow in BC right now due to the road closures from flooding, might be a while before I can continue. I'm waiting on a few spools of wire. I've been using 24AWG stranded silicone wire as feeders since I can solder right up to the casing, and being stranded and silicone makes it ridiculously flexible. Unfortunately being stranded the only way to make a decent job of the soldering is to do it on the bottom prior to laying the track.

I also received a shipment of these while I was away.










Very neat little wire taps, and totally reusable! Though a bit on the expensive side. How much is it worth to you to never solder under the layout? Apparently to me its about $1 per feeder! At least when I go to make a next layout (with the CF's permission of course) I'll be able to salvage them. A guy's got to have a hardware collection right?


----------



## afboundguy (Jan 10, 2021)

Thelic said:


> I also received a shipment of these while I was away.
> 
> View attachment 574211
> 
> ...


Where did you get these from if you don't mine me asking? I really like those and they seem like a better option than the normal wire splice connectors I was planning on using...


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Crutchfield sells them retail, they are a speaker/car stereo dealer. Looks like they have both a US and Canada webstore.

Wire Connectors at Crutchfield Canada
Wire Connectors at Crutchfield 

There pretty expensive to buy this way as they come in small packages. Somewhere in the range of $1.66 CAD each. I ended up going through a motorcycle lighting company in Canada/USA. 

You can get the blue ones here for around $0.90 USD each if you buy them in the 10 pack.
Shop Posi Motorcycle Products | Innovative Motorcycle Safety Solutions (admorelighting.com)

A full list of retailers and wholesalers is here.

Posi-Lock(R) - The Best Connectors You'll Ever Use! (posi-products.com)

I understand they were originally designed for motorcycle wiring. The really nice thing is they are tool-less, reusable, and the feeder end can be undone separately from the tap end. So if you make a mistake wiring you can simply undo the feeder and swap it with the correct one without having to re-tap the bus. You can also put multiple feeders into one tap. I can get two 24AWG stranded into the blue one, they make a black one with the same size tap, but larger opening for the feeders where you could potentially get maybe 4 in at once. Might be good for around interlockings where you've got a lot of feeders.

They also have two piece marrette style connectors that hold really well, as well as in-line splices.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

A word of caution, I would order a variety pack first, make sure they fit your wire sizes.

I'm using 14AWG stranded from the booster to each BXP88 or BXPA1 (~4') and then 18AWG as a sub-bus (~ 6') with 24AWG feeders (~ 6"). The blue ones fit really well from the 18 to the 24. I'm probably going to use a terminal strip to split the 14AWG to run direct to each BXP88/BXPA1.

The BXP88s limit the current in each sub-bus to 3A, so I should be able to get away with 18AWG given the short length.


----------



## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

You could also use a connector designed to run lighting feeders off a main line. Usually these are 12v mains (or our terms the left and right main line with a connector running off the main to feed the light (feeder to the rail) all in one nice connector.








the white and black are the daisy chain mains in and out with the disconnect at the other end the high gauge wire ( feeder) going to the track. Makes trouble shooting a little easer when you can just pop the connector off to isolate the feeders track connection! I think it works with 16 to 12 gauge wire on the main and 20 to 16 on the feed end ( have not checked this) and most important does not nick the wire to achieve the connection!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Got the first Tortoise installed this morning, complete with two remote kits for operating one of the hidden crossovers.

I could have used two Tortoises for this, but I'm really trying to avoid anything proud of the bottom of the layout stringers to eliminate risk of damage both in place and if it ever had to be moved. The remote mount lets me keep the Tortoise high enough to avoid being struck from underneath.

The layout had originally been designed for clearances for the smaller Cobalt switch machine. However I had difficulty obtaining additional ones at a decent price (shipping prices suck) after the supplier I had purchased two test ones from went under before I could get the remaining 24 I had planned to purchase. Admittedly the Cobalt's are a _bit_ noisier then the Tortoises, but their small footprint was a nice feature. The iP-Digital versions I tried are actually very nice pieces of hardware. The real bonuses of the Tortoise seem to be availability in North America and the range of accessories.

Going further down the device selection and picking out SE8C's for signaling also negates the self decoding advantages of the iP-Digitals since the SE8C can decode for up to 8 slow motion machines. It also has the option to keep the traffic off of the DCC bus if run as a stand alone LocoNet since the switch instructions go through LocoNet not the DCC system.











I'm still waiting on the screw terminal boards for the Tortoises and my bus wire. The screw terminal boards put the tortoises in the same price range as the Cobalts.

Topside these remote mounts come out really neat and tidy. I was worried about the throw strength, but the torsion in the wire provides plenty of leeway. Both turnouts operate nice and smoothly together. I'm tempted to remote mount them all!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Frustrating day!

My Tortoise screw terminals finally showed up after 3 weeks.....and they sent the wrong ones. 

They fit the old Tortoise machines, not the new. They can't even be shimmed to fit since they are too small already. What really sucks is I had specifically waited to order these until after I had the Tortoises in hand to make sure I got the right ones ordered.

At least the SE8C breakout boards fit.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Not a lot of progress on the layout the last 2 weeks, still waiting on some screw connectors for the tortoise machines. I did get the buses hooked up for the reverse loops, then proceeded to fight a phantom problem with the BXPA1s changing state on their own. I think it will go away on its own once the layout grows.

If you're interested in the debugging process you can find it here. Special thanks to DonR for his continued effort to help literally everyone on here.

I have made some progress with the locomotives and rolling stock though. Kato ES44AC CN #2952 and #2898 arrived along with some Digitrax SDXN146K1E sound decoders. I also picked up 17 Bachman cylindrical grain hoppers to complete my unit train sets. Boxing week sales are great, right? They are not quite as detailed as the Kato stuff, but better couplers, nice weights, and metal wheels. Not bad for $22 a piece. They will definitely need weathering and maybe some graffiti as they just don't quite have the same finish the Kato stuff does.

With the sound decoders I ended up killing the capacitors somehow?? I put them on the track, they started up then all of a sudden nothing. Oh man did I just brick one of these right away? How about the other one? Uh oh, same thing. I ended up removing the capacitors (do not put the capacitor wires together after removing, ask me how I know). After removing the caps the trains run ok, but stutter and restart regularly unless the rail is absolutely pristine. But hey, they didn't run at all with them installed. I have some replacement 100uf tantalum capacitors, which is what is soldered on the board on the non-sound decoder DN163K1C that also fit the engines. I'm just waiting on some 32AWG silicone wire to wire them up as I need slightly longer leads. Why they couldn't find room on the board I will never know as the tantalum capacitors are considerably smaller than the supplied aluminum one.

I should note, the engines with DN163K1Cs installed run amazing. Zero hiccups. Hopefully I can get the sound decoders to run as well.

I also played around with the sound files on the locos. I can see why the Digitrax sound decoders might take a bashing on the reviews. Mine were EXTREMELY quiet until I changed the sound files. You basically could not hear the prime mover, and it only had idle and run and both were way too quiet to hear over even the very quiet Kato motor at prototypical speeds. Now I've got Run1 through Run8 and they can be heard over the motor when at prototypical speeds.

Lastly I ventured into coupler changeovers. I had no idea how poor the Kato couplers were until I had some Micro-Trains ones installed. My consisted Kato engines would disconnect around 15" radius curves before swapping, now no issues. It was pretty rough assembling the first one, probably a solid hour to get that little spring in there after searching for it on the floor a few times. But by the 8th it was down to about 15 minutes per loco. I'm decently happy with the Bachman E-Z Mate II couplers, probably won't change them any time soon.


----------



## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

If it doesn't cause a problem with light reflections in the room, you might try working under a large piece of Saran wrap from the kitchen when having to work with springs that will always try to escape from you. It might not be ideal, but it will stop a spring from disappearing into the black hole every modeler has at the bench.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

I actually resorted to working on the kitchen table, much better light, much larger surface. The laminate floor is also decently easy to find stuff on. I’ll try the Saran Wrap thing though. 

It’s really nice of Micro-Trains to send a few spare springs and pins with the set, now that I’ve done a few without loosing any I have quite a stock of spare tiny parts.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Found and installed a sound project that works well without too many options. Nice and simple to get started. Sounds good too. Video is a little quiet, but it shows that you can hear the decoder over the mechanism noise.






You would think Kato would make more CN engines, but no. Only ES44ACs.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Not much work on the layout. Still waiting on components. However, I have been spending a lot of time behind the keyboard trying to tear into the sound project assembly language for these Digitrax sound decoders.

Great success so far! I was able to find all the software and break apart the project to the level I can edit the code. I was able to convert the 3 voice project to 4 voice (the maximum for this decoder). Now I can have the dynamic brake *AND* the bell on at the same time!

It's been a long time since I've even looked at assembly code, and even then we barely scratched the surface in school since it was really only taught to give us an idea of the foundations to the higher level languages.

Next issue to tackle is to add a delay to the auto notch down function so it doesn't always go through idle when changing directions.

I'll say this about the the Digitrax sound projects, AJ did a lot of cool things with very little memory back when these were cutting edge in the early 90s.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Ugh,

My decoder wire and capacitors showed up so I started installing them. Managed to pull the solder pad off the board for the speaker on one while trying to replace the speaker wire.

On the plus side with the capacitor installed its now my best runner, minus the sound...pretty expensive non-sound decoder though...

The other one went better. Runs great with the capacitor, cleaned up the speaker install too. Sounds pretty good to me!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Today the JMRI journey begins.

Busted out my 50' of LocoNet cable. Wife won't be pleased when she sees it running across the basement floor. But I'll put it in the ceiling soon enough. Don't ever put a drywall ceiling in a basement. Ceiling tiles are so much more practical.

Started by configuring JMRI to connect with LocoNet. Pretty trivial with a PR4.

Moved on to adding locos to the roster. Let's test to see if I can control them from the PC. Yep, lets tick that box.











Now for the fun part.










Those expensive little sound decoders... I don't think I'll be buying anymore. I do need to write or find a sound profile for a GEVO though. The 7FDL is close enough for now, they were used.

Lets just say you get a little more bass with this setup. Ok, a LOT more.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Ok, I broke down and installed the trial for Train Controller Bronze. I'm sure JMRI is fantastic and will do almost everything I need but...I had trains running around automatically within 30 minutes with Train Controller.

What's a guy to do.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

By the way the BXPA1 documentation is wrong for the detection sections. It is NOT the same as the device address as stated in the instructions. The detection sections are

```
Detection_Section_Address = (Board_Address x 2) - 1)
```
The transponding reporters however match the board address...

This was 15 of the 30 minutes...


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Played with it a little more today.

Transponding now works. You have to be EXTREMELY careful with the BXPA1 addresses. I will post a spreadsheet later once I have it all figured out. You basically need to skip board addresses so that the addresses of the detection sections and transponding reporters line up with what the BDL168/RX4 would have been when using BXP88 and BXPA1's.

For example my second BXPA1 can not be set to ID#2 or the transponding section is unreadable to Train Controller as it is looking for RX4 #1 section B, which is actually LocoNet address LR3.


----------



## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

Yes, very interested in what you have found out about the BXPA1 as I will be using BXPA1's on my next layout revision.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

It works!






Automated running, 2 trains, 3 blocks. Note my throttle is sitting on the layout. Completely hands off!

Still waiting on those gosh darned terminal strips for the tortoises, then I have a ton of wiring to tidy up and Digitrax boards to mount.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Further frustration. But we got the win. Read on!

I'm trying to get transponding with the BXP88's working now.

Train Controller hasn't been updated to include BXP88 and BXPA1 addressing, however you can select raw Loconet numbers for detection so detection is a non issue. Alternatively you can also treat each BXP88 as half of a BDL168 for detection addressing. This works fine until you get to trying to address transponding sections...

BDL168s have only 8 possible transponding sections compared to their 16 detection sections when saturated with two RX4s. The transponding sections are addressed on the odd numbers within the same range as the detection sections. The problem with the BXP88 is it doesn't follow this scheme as it has 8 transponding sections for each 8 detection sections so it uses both the even AND odd addresses. Train controller doesn't make an allowance for this. It also doesn't give you the ability to set raw addresses for transponding either...and there in lies the rub...

*Before we go further let me stress, the detection on these units works great*. It's easy to implement and troubleshoot. The transponding requires a lot of things to fall into place and any one of them makes it not work leaving you to figure out where the issue is with almost no feedback. I can see why a lot of people don't utilize this feature.


Here we go...

After a little googling, forum surfing, and heavy use of google translate (my German isn't very good) I have come up with a solution. One that wasn't yet offered on the Train Controller forum, or anywhere else I could find.

What you want to do is use the Bluecher GMB16X setting as a stand in for a pair of BXP88s. It's transponding addresses are in batches of 16 covering both even and odd. So in the case below I have a pair of BXP88s set to board IDs 3 and 4 (giving an address range of 17 to 24 and 25 to 32) matched with a GMBH16X set to address 2 (giving an address range of 17 to 32).










Also be sure to turn polarity off. The Bluecher is capable of detecting the facing of the train, but apparently not compatible with Digitrax decoders. If you leave it set to anything but off it will revert the direction when you attempt to flip it on the switchboard.

Other miscellaneous/silly lessons learned:

*Turn transponding ON on the decoders. Nothing works if you forget to do this.*
Turn the base station PURGE function OFF. Decoders without a slot in the command station memory are not transponding enabled. During testing I frequently had a locomotive dropped from its slot and then of course nothing worked.
When in doubt unplug and replug the USB connection and restart the connection to Train Controller. At some point LocoNet seems to think that its no longer important to send transponding messages. I think this is caused by my demo version of train controller timing out after 15 minutes and then restarting the connection. If I start with a new USB connection each time it works fine. I will investigate if a proper shut down of the connection remedies this.
JMRI's LocoNet Monitor is *INCREDIBLY USEFUL*. Consider using software on your PC to split the COM connection so you can run both Train Controller and JMRI for this feature.
Check the reporting addresses with JMRI. I had one board set to the wrong ID, I guess I fudges a switch command.

Ok, so why transponding then if its this much trouble.

Handoffs between controlled and uncontrolled sections of the layout. So if you have a yard that's not detected when you roll out onto the mainline the system picks up the train address and adds you to the switchboard automatically.
When you place a new loco to the layout it detects it and places it in the switchboard. I can literally pick up and drop my loco in any block and it knows that it got there with the 0-5-0 switcher.
It knows when a specific train isn't where its supposed to be and shuts down that train only.
Eventually I will be able to track the train around the layout with a surround sound system. Technically this could be done with train tracking, but transponding is more bulletproof.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Thelic said:


> When in doubt unplug and replug the USB connection and restart the connection to Train Controller. At some point LocoNet seems to think that its no longer important to send transponding messages. I think this is caused by my demo version of train controller timing out after 15 minutes and then restarting the connection. If I start with a new USB connection each time it works fine. I will investigate if a proper shut down of the connection remedies this.



Ok, the USB thing appears to be totally related to how Train Controller severs the connection to LocoNet when the demo version times out. If I close out Train Controller properly and relaunch It don't get this silent error.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

I'll add one more to the list of "When in doubt". Restart the PC. Ran into a situation where I could read the layout from the computer but not talk back to it. Restarting the PC fixed it. I think a lot of this is caused by the way the connection is severed due to the demo timing out. It's not a proper shutdown, rather just a sudden stop of data flow.

Made some progress last night regarding signals. Nothing actually installed but getting the digital signals correct makes installing the actual ones trivial (I hope). This is where Train Controller Gold shines, it automatically can look at distant blocks to compute yellow signals, very little logic is required on the user end. I'm led to believe the other versions can do this, but with extensive effort of the user end to write up all the logic statements for anything but 2 aspect signals.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Finally. Tortoise screw terminals. Not the original push on ones I had intended, but these will do the trick. At least if I have to solder I can do the soldering on the bench and not under the table.

I'll give myself a solid B+ on the solder job. I think we're moving away from "necessary evil" and towards "required art". Lets hope this trend continues the next tracks laid will be visible!










You know, I never noticed the little arrows on the back of the tortoise board before...that's gunna help later...


Work on figuring out the signals continues. Almost time to open my "Big Box of What Was Thelic Thinking." 😅









Got the wires all tidied up. Tomorrow I'll finish the crossover and get this module swung into place.









Really like these wire taps.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Ok. I have some data for you guys.

I quickly speed profiled one of my engines and tested stopping distances.

Accuracy, 
Not so good initially with my quick setup. I reliably landed about 8" shy of target. Probably needed to recalibrate the engine.
Recalibrated just the speeds used for final approach into block with red signals and things improved considerably. Now averaging about 4" shy.
Calibrating for mainline speed can be done roughly, the train won't be traveling at this speed under yellow signal. Focus on yellow signal speeds since they are what is referenced after leaving the final detection point.

Precision (Grouping)
Very tight. Plus or minus two inches after traveling 116" past the last known point. Even with poor accuracy grouping was tight.
This gives me hope, especially since my engines are not run in yet. This should get better not worse as the engines break in.
I had a lot more success after matching the stop marker distance to the brake + ramp distance. If you ramp to early it seems difficult to get the crawl speed calibrated, probably too much variance when setting it since the loco is a bit temperamental at those speeds. Regularly braked at the right spot then crawled too far fouling the switch. Coming to a smooth stop without any crawling using matched distances was not only really pleasing to watch but far more accurate.

In conclusion I think you should plan on having block sizes somewhere around 5% to 10% larger than your longest train if not using some form of IR detector for precision stopping.

For me that means I'm probably going to have to stick to < 80" trains since I have 90" sidings. This is perfect however since two ES44ACs and 3 Gunderson MAXI-I units come to ~72". Lots of room to spare. Hmm..... I could probably even run two MAXI-IVs and two MAXI-Is...guess its time to start next year's Christmas list.


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

Not enough time today to get into anything serious. Did get the switchboard roughed out though.










Probably trim up the corners a bit. I'll see if I want to space it out more too. You can really see the dogbone now compared to the track plan.

Other cool notes, TC Gold can highlight detected sections of track that are not part of blocks. so all of the turnouts and blue track can be highlighted!


----------



## Thelic (Jan 10, 2018)

It's been a busy day!

Left hand module swung into place, no more looking at it from the back!

Got the right hand module all sheeted and joined up. It has no track that goes underneath other track so I was able to do the sub roadbed all at once. The next sheet for the left module is already cut, just needs to be dropped into place!

I took down all my testing wiring, so no more trains till I get some more track finished. Tomorrow is looking like a cleanup day.




















Left module getting finishing touches before the next layer goes on. I figured some guardrails were in order. I prefer to keep my rollingstock at least on the table if not on the rails!


----------



## Mannix (10 mo ago)

Great work. What's up? Thanks.


----------

