Kiwi_Ed

Seems like I've muddled up my scales.. I know perfectly well that 1:148 is British N-scale, for some reason seeing that the 3D prints come from Holland I assumes that it was the continental scale. That's great news (not that I am going mad and mixing things up, but the other part!)! This one is definitely on my wish list again! I don't model in 2mm finescale, just N gauge with mainly RTR. I don't think I have the skill (yet) to become a 2mm purist! Thanks for your replies! Ed

Hello Tom, Really enjoy seeing your project develop. I am very curious about the 3D printed Palvan. I've been in doubt of getting a few of these for a while, but according to the description on Shapeways, they are 1:148 (continental N-scale) and I am a bit worried that they look odd. How do you think they compare to 1:160 vans? I'd love to see a photo if at all possible of two vans together. Happy modelling! Ed

I was thinking of using card sleeves as pockets, you can get these at gaming (not the digital type..) shops or online.

Please do explain your trials, tribulation and thought process. Along the Chapeltown Loop has been such an inspiration and looked great in its unfinished state - it would only have gotten better if you had the time to finish it. Anything you want to share about your current project can only be just as inspiring!

Reading through the PDF I came across the first problem with this system: What is you have a train full of standard vans destined for several 'spots'? There is no way of telling which van goes where.. Obviously you could get around this by keeping the Car Order Cards in a certain order (don't drop the pile!) and pretend that the cars are in the same order, but to me it feels more natural to actually know which wagon to pick from the train to place in its spot.. Continuing on from this problem: What about cars that are placed 'off spot'? If there is a siding with several wagons on it that are waiting to be placed in their right spot it is also quite difficult to remember which wagon is suppose to go where. Besides this I don't really like the way cars are picked up again.. There is no random factor to this: you simply decide if a delivered car will be picked up during the next session or not. Obviously you could easily make this a bit more random by using a dice (even numbers = pick up, uneven = hold). Even so I like northolland's system where there is just a pile of outgoing loads for that specific day and you just have to find the wagons for it better. The biggest downside is that you need to keep your cards in order with the order of the wagons in a train or on a siding. If the pile of cards get mixed up there is no way to tell what load is in which wagon and what goes where. Does this matter for the 'play factor'? I suppose not, but I would like to pretend that my train is real and hate to think what would happen if a van full of meat get mixed up with a van full of paper for the local printer - I don't think they are going to be too pleased when they open the doors after the wagon has been stored in the yard for two days... All in all I am undecided.. The system is simple to implement and easily expended when there are more locations added to a layout. On the other hand I think it is more fun to actually follow a particular wagon around the layout and let the waybills decide where it goes instead of just picking any random suitable wagon for the load. Well, actually, that's what you're doing with card cards as well! I suppose it could be worth giving this system a go. The system easily allows to add car cards later on if it doesn't suffice so nothing is lost by starting off without them.

Glad somebody bit the bullet in re-awakening this topic.. My fingers have been itching for typing a reply and asking how/if a new layout was progressing! Very happy to hear that you are working on a layout again, northolland! This topic has been by far the best I have ever read (anywhere!) on operations. The way in which you semi-randomly split your waybills up in work days is really cool and this with all the different trips makes operation really fun without it becoming too much of game instead of a representation of prototypical operations. This 'orders without numbers' system looks interesting as well - saves a lot of hassle of making car cards. I'll have a good read through the PDF! I am looking forward on seeing more progress on the new layout and very curious how it will be operated upon.

Wow, Dave, excellent workon the TMD. It really 'fits' into place! Keep up te great work! Ed

Great Layout Martyn! Would love to see more picture. I'm especially impressed with the way you worked out a way of having an extra branch line running back into the fiddle yard, I do need to remember that one. It looks great!

Excellent weathering on your road vehicles. I'd love to hear how that is done. And over all a very nice layout, definitely will be checking in on this topic ever so often!

Kevin, thanks for the tour! Absolutely brilliant Really enjoyed following that train along!

Interesting arrangement on that roof by the way (some type of CCTV camera and quick response unit??)

Paul, That is absolutely brilliant, gives a good impression on how the different part connect. Judging by the pictures and videos earlier there is no passenger traffic on the harbour, so I'm guessing that these run behind the harbour layout with a branch somewhere into the harbour. Looking forward to seeing a detailed trackplan! Thanks so far! Ed

Kevin, Just spend a few days reading this topic front to back and back to front again! Absolutely brilliant work, great modelling and great operations as well; your trains actually have somewhere to go and do their things. Something I am missing on a lot of layouts.. The extensions really add to the 'value'! Earlier in the topic you drew a rough track plan of the original layout, but I am having some trouble fixing together the pieces of the extension. The three videos earlier give a good impression on how the different parts connect but I still cannot seem to figure out what is exactly where and how it all fits together. Can I be so bold to ask you for another updated track plan? Keep up the good work, definitely going to keep following this one! Edwin

Paving by hand in N! You're mad, mate! But brilliant work, an inspiration as always..

Brilliant that it's working for you David! I'll be ordering my motorshield and arduino soon to give this a proper go. Have to dig into the system a bit deeper to figure out how to make a (wireless) handheld controller..

Looks perfectly all right in that photo! (could be different in real life, but from what we can see in the photo that looks great!)

Hello Jesse, thanks for your reply. That would save me some money for actual trains... Are we going to see your platform edge distance tool in action?

Hello Jesse, I've been following your layout with great interest! Great execution of Minories (the best one I've seen so far!) and excellent modelling. I have one question: how much ballast did you use? I really like the ballast you are using and I would like to use it on my - yet to be build - small layout, as the ballast is sold in different quantities/weights and because I need it shipped to Ireland I would like to get a fair idea on how much I would need. This would save me from being stuck with buckets of ballast and having to pay extra postage because of the weight or the other way around, me not having enough so I would need to buy more and spent more on postage.. Keep on the good work and thanks! Ed

Hello Cornerman! Thanks for sharing that. The simplicity is what appealed to me, after downloading the Arduino sketch and the software this system can work in five minutes indeed. No hassle with soldering or anything else (except connecting it to the track..), just as simple as any other DCC command station. Very curious to hear how you are getting on! All the best, Ed

Hi All, Please watch the hardware videos to get this explained better.. But: the motor shield actually swaps between +18V and -18V (or whatever voltage you feed to the motor shield) like any proper DCC system. This is achieved somehow by linking the PWM output of the arduino to the polarity switch input on the motor shield. Again: the videos on the hardware explain this very clearly.. One of the strengths of this system is that it is completely NMRA compliant, so does whatever an other DCC system does, but a lot cheaper!

Hello Dajt, The motor shield is exactly doing that converting the PWM output of the Arduino into a +/- DCC swing/wave at the voltage needed for running one (or several) engines. Have a look at the hardware videos on the DCC++ channel: https://www.youtube....-_g-_rZw/videos Everything is very clearly explained in that. Even I could build this and that says a lot! And I agree, it is near impossible to resist playing with this... Even if I continue using my Multimaus for running the layout. I can easily hook up one of these to my PC, so I can programme my engines very easily on the computer before letting them go on the actual layout. One thing that annoys me about the Multimaus is its disability to read CVs. This might be possible with some software from Roco, connecting the PC to the Multimaus command station with a network cable, I believe.. But in this day and age of WiFi I don't have a network card in my computer and the description of actually reading CVs is so vague in the software's manual, that it could actually mean that its not going to work! That's why I haven't bothered buying a network card + cable, downloading the software, moving the Multimaus command station from the layout to the PC, only to find out if it is working or not.. With this system I can have a less than €10 command station and a bit of track handy next to the PC where I can fiddle around with tuning my decoders!

Hello all, I just came across this arduino DCC controller that is some simple it's truly astonishing and I would like share with you! (I have no connection to this system at all, I just like it!) https://sites.google.com/site/dccppsite/home All it is is a Arduino (Uno) with a motorshield! Together with the open-source software this allows you to control your layout directly from a PC. No soldering, no electronic schematics to decypher (both suits me fine as that aren't my strong points..) and unlike many other Arduino based DCC controllers out there it can actually control more than one train, read and write CV values and basically works the same as many commercial units but you will be able to build this system for less than a tenner! The website is far from complete but if you have a look at the Youtube channel it explains the system very very clearly! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJmvQx-fe0OMAIH-_g-_rZw/videos The systems is mainly focussed on computer control, but there are also many people working on 'normal' throttles. One in particular I liked was this one with a normal tv remote control: (ignore the talking controller, which is highly annoying!)It should also be possible and not to hard to rig up a system that allows for multiple controllers to allow for more than one operator on the layout. More information here: http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?forums/dcc.177/ I really like this system so far! It's really simple to make and above all it is only a fraction of the cost of any of the commercial systems out there. I have been using a Multimaus so far and I'm quite happy with it, however, as the modelling budget is tight, I haven't been able to buy a second controller which would allow for somebody else to join me in operating my layout. I have not really an interest in computer control, so JMRI with wifi throttles isn't an option either (don't own a laptop and to haul the PC into the layout room every time I want to run a train is a bit much), but with this system it is possible to build a complete control system with multiple controllers for (I guess) less than half of the price of a Multimaus throttle, let alone the complete set with command station! And even wireless if I wanted to! And this system can read CVs, something that the Multimaus cannot do.. Really impressed! Has anybody else come across this system and any experience using it? I'd love to hear what you think about it!

Scared already! More photos since I last logged in...

Wow impressive! I didn't even know there was a dcc 'stop all' command (something else to google/rmweb search/youtube).. Perhaps you can write an algoritm on the arduino to calulate the winning lotto numbers by flashing leds... Don't forget who gave you the idea!

I am very glad to have re-awoken this topic, a lot of new and additional information! There are so many benefits to using servos (with or without arduino) as point motors, cost being probably the biggest one! I personally think Peco comletely missed the plank when they decided to price their servos higher than a conventional solenoid point motor. Anybody doing a bit of research into servos soon realises that the same can be achieved for a fraction of the price. Peco could have had a real winner on their hands if they had priced them cheaper than the solenoids... But that's a discussion for elsewhere! Anyway, I'd love to hear more arduino accessory decoder stories!