AllScales

Well, it's been a long, long time since my last posting! How time flies, when you're having fun!!!! So what's been happening? Work, work, work and more work mostly! On top of that marshalling planning permission thorugh the local council for the loft, just a bit more work and just one teensy holiday to finish it off... However in the background other things have gone on... I have managed to eliminate the router from the Z21 for one! This is it, for an Apple Airport Network connected via a BT Homehub (this may be specific to BT Fibre): 1. You need a second generation airport express for the Z21 (this is the little box with the power cable, not the one with that plugs direct into socket). 2. You need to remove the home hub and plug the Airport Express directly into the ADSL modem. 3. Using the Airport utility, connect to the Airport Express and enter the Internet Connection part. 4. Select PPPoE, then enter the username as "bthomehub@btbroadband.com", use a sinlge space as the password. 5. Now go the LAN settings and select "192.168.0" as the network Now that was the simple bit! Next you need to get a computer, the Z21 and the router. Wire them all up using old fashioned ethernet cables. 1. On the computer (PC or Mac): ping 192.168.0.111 2. After you get a response (or 4) from the Z21, type "arp -a" (Mac, PC to follow) 3. Look for the line saying 192.168.0.111, after it is a bunch of numbers (and letters) separated by ':'s, this is the MAC address We're almost there! So disconnect all that, plug the Z21 into the aiport's ethernet port and continue: 4. Go back to the Airport configuration utility and head back to the Advancedsettings, select DHCP & NAT 5. Add a new entry, giving the IP address (192.168.0.111) and the MAC address. Now you're done! No more switching Wifi networks... Please if you have a problem, ask your local techy (or grandson, but they might not understand the cables bit)... Good luck!

For those who are interested, the ring network I'm using is described here: http://www.wintergroundfairlands.com/2012/12/daisy-chaining-serial-connections.html However, I've completely ignored something quite important! In my model so far, the stations at the end of the single track section have seemingly endless capacity, when a train leaves the section and enters the station the last signal remains green... Not very good if your station has three tracks, one of which contains a train going the other way, and you send four trains down to it... Even worse, the points at the station aren't neccesarily going to be straight so the last signal might need to display some kind of "slow" aspect.... I think a I might need to get my thinking cap on again.... On a happier note, my Arduino experiment box arrived today. £20 (or so), it includes an Arduino, switches, LED's, breadboards, servo, stepper motor, all sorts... Good value, given an Arduino is £25 (or so) at Maplins...

Back in September, I was thinking of implementing a single track signalling system using some PIC's, custome circuit boards and a lot of blood sweat and tears... Then one day, best mate pointed out that you can buy Arduino clones on ebay for stupid prices... Just how stupid? Try £2.33! Each! Including P&P! From China.... It takes about two weeks for them to get here, but there's no rush, so that's fine... So five were duly ordered, the correct driver was located and they arrived a bit before Christmas... One big issue was that they needed to talk to each other with as few wires as possible. Having a gander around the Wibbly Wobbly Webbie thing produced the answer... Configure them in a ring: If an Arduino generates an event (e.g. A train passing), it shoots a message to the next one, which then takes any action requires and forwards it to the next. All the way round untill it makes it back to the sender, where it's stopped (or "Eaten" as I call call it). So today I started to actually develop the software, I have written the low level bits which allow the collection of Arduinos to work out how many there are in the circle and have written some driver software to switch signals to the correct aspect... I have made one big assumption: The station at the end can take an infinite number of trains... Fair enough? How can I mak this realistic (within limits)?

I like DCC, it's great! However sometimes it's overkill or simply too expensive and then sometimes something simple is all that's needed.... The storage loops are a case in point, I have previously explained how to do the reverse loop with using an expensive reverse loop module. This time I will take things a step further and explain how to auto-select a track in the storage sidings... Each of the tracks in storage sidings has an occupancy detector, there is also a detector on entry to the storage loops. In fact the detector that switches the reverse loop can be used to select the track. A small logic circuit sets the route automatically as follows: 1. If the track is occupied and the pulse arrives, it will set the point to not select the track and pulse the next module 2. If the track is free and the pulse arrives, it will set the point to select the track. This of course, only works for ladder style storage loops... Now given I've got a big loop, what will happen when a train arrives and the loops are full? That's for the next episode...

In part 1 I looked at the mainline services which cross at the main station. So this time it's time to look at how the branch can be fitted in... Services on the branch should meet the mainline service in the reverse direction at the junction, so it needs to leave the main station in time to meet it! At this stage we are not too concerned about steam trains on the branch, as I'll explain later... So the branch train departs halfway between mainline trains from the main station and makes its way up to the junction, there it waits for the mainline train to arrive, a minute or so after that arrives, it sets off on the branch. In reverse the same happens, the down branchline arrives first and then the up mainline, once the up mainline has arrived the down branch can leave (surely no passengers would want to go back to whence they came?) To explain branch steam services I need to explain some other bits.... Steam special on the line must run forwards at all times, so when they arrive back at "base" the loco needs to be turned, as the loco's are small, they will also need to be watered and fed (coal). So the steam loco unhooks and moves off to the turntable, instead another small loco takes over for the next run. The reverse loop at the far end gets rid of the need to do that at the top.... [Note to self: Must have a turntable at the border station...] So how does it all work? Well a steam special on the mainline departs after the the service train, so it will leave the border station just behind the normal train. At the junction it will pause and cross the steam special going the other way. The branchline steam trains run after the down steam special has left, effectively in the dead space between the sudden hive of activity! This whole timetable dictate a track layout at the junction requires that a train on either loop should able to take either line...The mainline or the branch. I would include a picture but the software I'm using for track planning is new and I haven't quite worked it out completely!

Doing domestic chores can be a wonderful time to get some thinking in. So this morning I spent some time thinking about how the timetable for the Austrian part of Lofty should be arranged. First a quick recap of the track plan, from bottom to top: 1. The fiddle yard: 4 or so tracks representing the Landeck part of the world, arranged in reversing loop 2. The major intermediate station with steam loco shed, a carriage siding, and 3 or four loops 3. Junction station: Built on a ledge with only room for single loop and two short dead end sidings for goods wagons or a shunter 4a. Mainline terminus: Junction with the RhB, three loops and a log transfer crane, shed for shunter 4b. Branchline terminus: Hidden fiddle yard with two tracks in a reverse loop [Note: This is the reverse of the earlier plan where the two branch line went to the border terminus] In terms of traffic there will be the following: 1. Normal service trains, mostly hauled by 2095 class loco's 2. Mainline steam specials hauled by Mh class loco's 3. Branchline services, provided by railcars 4. Branchline steam specials hauled by U/Uh class loco's and HF loco's 5. Goods trains, mostly log traffic to Switzerland 6. Drop off goods service (mostly beer and model trains) The first two types of traffic will run from fiddle yard to the mainline terminus on the Swiss border. The next two types will run from the major station to the branchline terminus. The 5th type will run from the fiddle yard, to the mainline terminus, and the last one, only from the major station to the branchlike terminus. Most continental railways run a strict clock face timetable, which makes the timetable very simple to print as you can see here: Junctions are often designated transfer points, so if your train is late, you should still be able to make your connection. In this case the small junction station will be a designated transfer location. So a down (to Landeck) train on the mainline, will meet an up branchline train. Similarly an up mainline train will meet a down branchline. At the major station, a mainline steam special will pause to take on water on of the loops at the back. While it's taking on water, a mainline normal service train will over take it, this will also be the crossing point where it meets the mainline service going the other way. So at the main station the sequence will be as follows: 1. Up steam special arrival 2. Up mainline train arrival 3. Down mainline train arrival 4. Up mainline departure 5. Down mainline departure 6. Steam special departure 7. Down branchline arrival This is a bit of a pig as it means that the branchline train, will need to wait for both the normal service train and the steam special at the junction before it can set off.... Hmmmm.... One obvious thing that can be done is to make the steam wait for the branchline train to arrive? Thoughts? Update! Reflecting on this while mopping the kitchen floor, I've come to the conclusion that the steam special should wait, it should be treated as a goods train for timetabling purposes... The nice side effect of this decision is that the goods trains can be timetabled in exactly the same way.

Last weekend was Vienna, sadly I did spend almost all of it inside the exihibition halls, manning the Austrian Railway Group stand.. Originally, it was planned for me to spend Sunday travelling out to the Mariazeller Bahn, however due to an unexpected events we were short staffed, so this wasn't possible. Nonetheless, a great time was had and some new stock was acquired! At some point I will produce a show report, ARG members first!

Discussing my app with best mate over the weekend, we came up with some further ideas where we could take it: 1. Both of us have similar locomotives fitted with the same chip, so it would be nice if the settings could be retrieved and then pushed out to another loco... I.e. A with X could be replicated to B with X... 2. Building a register of chips... This would give a graphical interface to the chips.. (This could be very complex...) Support for MERG, RFID detection, at the moment this is serial and limited to 8 detectors per serial port, I've put my self forward to improve this. The RFID support, I would like to be able to use recognise trains and us it for fiddle yards, linking the tag to the loco address should help with train positioning... On a side note, linking that to the signalling system I'm also working on, could lead to all sorts of useful Things...

Last night, after a nightmare journey thanks to SouthEastern/A Trespasser/Signal failure (take your pick), I managed to get a small application working on the Mac... I'm using my old Mac on purpose, for starters it's 9 years old, so if it works on that, it should work on more recent Macs... Secondly, for anyone wanting to use it, picking up a nine year old Mac shouldn't cost too much... Thirdly, Apple include the developmemt environment for free. Lastly, Apple produce wireless keyboards and mice (and trackpads), so you can control the App remotely without wires getting in the way. Now my intention is to make the App as independent as possible from the underlying protocol, so once I have support for the Z21, producing a version for another system should be easy. As the Z21 uses X-Bus as its basic protocol, Lenz support will be second... The extensions are to carry the wireless communications. Let me work on this first, but if anyone has documents for other protocols and interfaces, then please let me know... Just remember: - MacSignalbox is intended to be a signalbox - Driving trains is secondary

I have an old (2006) computer that doesn't really get used very much... In fact it's an old Mac Mini, that no longer gets updates, so really shouldn't be connected to the internet anymore. This Firefox stopped working on it too... However it's otherwise fine and at some point had its memory increased to the maximum it can take, so should be O.K. for offline work... As you know Lofty will be quite big and controlling it will be a Z21. I can use the provided apps to control it, using the Padule or phone. There is a small snag though: Screen size.... Even on the Padule, I don't think I could manage to fit the entire track plan on the screen in one go! So I'd need multiple pages, which it doesn't support (as yet, as I've managed to attach multiple background pictures to one layout, only one can be accessed for dropping points on). Now Roco/Fleischmann have kindly provided the LAN protocol (in German) and as I no longer program on a daily basis, I think a little project might be in the offing.... Watch this space!

@Horsten:

The RhB is well known for some of the engineering that was done in order to build its lines. On the Albula line there is the famous Landwasser viaduct, curved arches ending in a vertical cliff face and the Albula spiral. On the Filisur to Davos line is the famous Wiessen viaduct, a wonderful stone built arched bridge over a large gorge. The section of the line between Davos and Klosters also features turnback tunnels as used on the Albula. Both the Arosa and Bernina lines have on street running, the Arosa line runs though the streets of Chur and gains its own right of way at the end of town. The Bernina has two sections, one at the Southern end of Poschiavo (just before it reaches the lake of the same name), the other down the Via Elvezia at the Northern end of Tirano. Finally the Bernina also has the famous Brusio spiral. In terms of stations, the construction varies from wooden station, through near identical stations on the Engadin line (St. Moritz to Scuol-Tarasp), to Italian influenced buildings at the Southern end of the Bernina... For the modeller in HOm, several useful structures can be found. Faller have produced Susch station and currently both Ardez and Guarda can be found in the shops. All three are Engadin stations. They are also producing Litzirüti station on the Arosa line. Kibri has a model of Bahnhof Solis which on the lower section of the Albula lines between Thusis and Filisur, trains no longer stop at this station... Solis is of the wood type. Although not on the RhB, Kibri also produce Oberried station located on the metre gauge Zentral Bahn on the shores of the Brienzersee, this is a mixed brick/wood type of building, which wouldn't look too much out of place in Graubunden... For bridges, one could cobble together an approximation of the Wiessen viaduct, using a Faller bridge of a similar design. The Landwasser viaduct is similarly possible with off the shelf kits.. The Brusio spiral could be a challenge though! Just remember is that there are very few metal bridges on the RhB! The used to be one near Reichenau Tamins (the junction a few miles west of Chur), however this was removed and replaced with a concrete bridge as part of a road building scheme, many years ago... If you are modelling in N then it becomes a lot harder! Obviously there is the Kato Swiss station, which is an RhB station (can't remember which one though). However for the rest, there really isn't much. That may soon change though with the release of the Kato Glacier Expresses and the Allegra railcars... For those of you wanting to try to model the train in road sections, there is a special roller available on Shapeways. This is available for HO/OO, HOm, TT, HOe and N... I've not seen it used yet though. Usage is simple, you fill a section of track and shoulders with DAS and then use the roller, to cut out the grooves for the flanges, at the same time it will leave a cobble stone patterned imprint. This may or may not suit you, the two sections of train in road on the Bernina are both tarmac. In both HO and N, Brawa produce skilifts, there are both cable cars, as well as bubble lifts. I'm hoping to be able to fit one in, in some way, but until I get further down track and actually see how the layout is going to fit, I'm not going to commit... I was going to include lots of links and pictures in this entry, but I think it's quite long enough already! So go on to Google Images have a look...

It's been a long time since my last post, for many varied reasons... More about that later! The layout will have several single track sections... The Zillertalbahn doesn't use colour light signalling (it's all radio token stuff) but the RhB does, so to make it realistic I should add colour light signals! To that end I'm thinking of building a PIC based single track signal control module. The simplest module will be to control a pair of back to back signals controlling a single section boundary. Each module will talk to the next and previous using a simple 3 wire serial bus. It will also have a separate power supply feed... The module can drive two, 3 aspect main signals, plus two advance signals. A protocol between modules will take care of: - Multiple trains can enter the single line - Each train is counted in and out - The line must be requested before it can be used - Shunting in the station is supported A second module is envisaged to allow for a simple passing loop... I'm basing the system on a simplified version of the Swiss signalling system, which should work for most countries. More details will follow once I've finished fighting with my Visio like drawing package! On the rolling stock front, both loco's I bought late February in Vienna have now been sound chipped. The best is the 2093 with genuine sounds: This was from a specialist supplier from Austria, but worth it! Meanwhile there has also been some stock acquisition on the RhB side, no sound I'm afraid: There are more videos, but not on YouTube... In the maenwhile, in real life... The loft conversion hasn't even started! Little did I know when I wrote my previous post... Just after easter I received a letter from a local solicitor to inform me that my architect had, sadly, passed away 3 days after I last saw him. I had just dropped off a cheque for the planning application and before he had managed to lodge the application... A month later, I managed to obtain the whole dossier and after speaking to a local man, filled in the gaps and submitted the planning application. Then in the middle of August, I learned it had been rejected by the council. After speaking to a member of the planning department, it was rejected due to "not looking like all the other ones", I can appeal, but that could very expensive, involving lawyers and all that. So I will try again, taking the comments from the council on board. The cost will be more predictable...

I never got around to talking about the wires bit. Never mind, some days these things happen... Anyway, so my idea is to have two DCC buses, one for each of the two gauges. A switch will allow joining both halves. In turn in each half there will be a point bus and a track bus. A lot of this is future proofing, just in case my layout gets too big, I want to be able to include a booster should it become necessary. At the same time I also want to be able to operate one half without the other. In a worst case scenario two independent controllers should be possible... That just leaves a programming track. As the railway will be split gauge, I'll need two, but a booster doesn't have programming output... So working out the best way of arranging this is still under "ponderance"....

I realise it's been a while since the last post, however planning continues unabated. There's been a bit of a snag however (well actually two). The first is that planning permission for the loft conversion is now around 6 weeks behind schedule. This is due to me not noticing that the architect had dropped the plans through the letterbox and the crisis in Greece making the Euro drop... Anyway, hopefully everything will sort itself out in due course... Meanwhile I've acquired some new loco's: That is Jouef number 4, contractor's loco, this is number two: A Ferro train 2093 (plastic body) in preservation liviery and finally: 2095.01 in factory delivery colours... Enjoy!