Enhancing The Railroad For Operating Sessions

Greetings follower of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

As many of my followers know, I host a number of operating sessions throughout the year. The last session I hosted, a scenario came up where we had some trains being held up on the lower level. This was due to an operator bringing a train up the helix at a very slow speed. Prototypical is an understatement. The train and the crew behind him were getting a little impatient, to say the least. The conductor knew the operator of the train ahead of him, and asked dispatch to be routed around the slow mover. 

On the lower level where the Morris Plains train station is located are 2 pair of single crossovers. This was installed not only for trains coming down the helix if we needed to stage a train on the north staging tracks, but for bypassing a train on the other helix track heading up top.

Back to the issue during the session. Since the crossovers were there, this was the time to cross the second train to the other track and send him up top, left hand running as this track is usually used for bring trains down to staging.

After the session was over, I had a conversation with one of the guys who has helped me design and run the railroad, John from NJ. We discussed how to keep the railroad moving during scenarios like this. It was decided that since signals could not be used on the lower level for operators to see, I opted to put panel indicator lights on the fascia just above Morris Plains. The operators can see the three color indicator lights telling them how they can proceed both up and down the helix. As long as they pay attention, trains should move well (not everyone pays attention). 

Here's the diagram for the fascia panel indicator lights. 

Next step was to drill the holes for the LED's. Since there are three indications, we needed 12 LED's for this area.

Now comes the fun part. I'm using 3mm 12V DC LED's for this project. In addition, another set of these is needed which will be used by the dispatch area. The dispatcher will control the movement of trains coming up or going down the helix tracks. 

Next step is to install the LED's on the fascia. These LED's are held in place with plastic LED holders. I used 26 GA stranded wire soldered to the LED's. Each one tested when soldered then tested again after the shrink tubing was added. 

Next comes the fun part - wiring these to terminal strips and then over to the dispatch area. Can anyone say this is fun? Believe it or not, I did enjoy this part. In order to have this work properly I used 8 of the 8 double row terminal strips; 4 for this area and 4 by the panel. The LED's were wired into the terminal strips. From the terminal strips I ran 4 sets of 22GA 4 conductor phone wire. Each run was a good 30 feet plus. In the photo below you can see in the background that my wires are labeled if I have an issue, it's easy to trace. 

Next step is to drill the holes in the dispatch panel and add the LED's. In addition, I added 4 rotary switches which control the signal aspects in both locations. These are 2 pole, 3 position rotary switches. I buy most of these parts from Allectronics.com in California. LED's come from LED-Switch.com. One other addition to the dispatch panel will be a duplicate set of push button switches to control the crossovers during an operating session, if the operator over by Morris Plains can't do it. These will be wired in down the road. 

Below is the how the dispatchers panel looks lit up. 

As you can see below, this panel indicator lights by Morris Plains mirror the dispatchers panel. 

If time allows, I may be able to wire in the additional 2 sets of pushbuttons in time for the next end of the month operating session, which is a night session on August 28th. It was changed to a Wednesday night for this month due to the fact that a couple of key people would not be around, it's Labor Day weekend, and, the diner is still closed for their annual vacation! I've done two Wednesday night sessions, and they are well attended and a great operating session. 

So what's the next upgrade to the railroad after wiring in the switch machines? I'll give you a hint. It has to do with operations and making the movement of trains move better. Another hint? Signals? What, more signals? 

Stay tuned......!!