Exploring the World of Model Railroading
I have to say it, I wasn’t expecting it, but it happened. From a rather cold start (doofus here picked a wrong USB port for the RR-CirKits LCC Buffer device), to mach speed, in a blink of an eye. Proof is in the pudding (third entry in the list in the OpenLCB Network Tree window on the left). Hooray!
I mentioned in the previous post that I spent the last week or so doing diddly-squat on the layout. A few tests of the BOD, but otherwise more time was spent building a PoC (Proof of Concept) circuit for LCC (Layout Command Control) or more precisely getting the CANbus code for Arduino CAN-BUS Shield integrated with a development code from the OpenLCB group.
As it always happens (of course), I did not have all the necessary electronics parts to complete the circuits, to my satisfaction, so I went today to look for more. I came back with two bags of various items. Some that I needed to get and some…that were nice to have.
It’s been slow past few days – I squandered some of my time-off doing nothing, or driving around getting things, or just having hard time focusing. Maybe I should not be feeling guilty about it, time-off is supposed to be time off things, all of them. Oh well, onto the trains now.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been experimenting with various methods of block occupancy detection. As I plan to have the entire railroad detectable (for automation purposes) and it’s a mid-size layout, there will be many, many (…many) blocks (probably a hundred or so across 3 decks). I built couple of circuits, namely the single transistor one based off of NCE BD20 and modified by Reinhard Müller, and another based on a similar Current Transformer detector but with a LM555, originally from Paisley, with modifications from Helmut Schäfer.
I hate it when I spend the whole day driving around looking for things, especially on my days off when I plan to make progress on the layout. But it seems inevitable, as many of these businesses I cater to are only open Monday to Friday 9-5 – right when I’m at work.
Looking at all the stuff lying all over the staging deck surface, I realized I needed a cart for all those tools and supplies and what not. After checking the prices, I decided I wasn’t going to pay from $150 and up to $500 for a molded/extruded piece of recycled plastic on 4 rubber wheels. So, I set on to build me a utility cart of materials at hand (I had to buy the wheels though).
The day wasn’t spent in Shipping/Receiving parcels, as the previous post might make it look like. No Sir, actually real work has been done on the railroad. Crews have been busy drilling the sub/road bed and fitting turnouts and motors. Finally, we are “doing trains” !!
It feels like it’s Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate)…oh wait it is. Well hooray then, let more goodies come pouring (down?). Total of 3 packages came in today and it felt like I worked in Shipping/Receiving dept (it didn’t really). I was looking outside the window every 5 minutes, anxiously waiting for one delivery or another.
