Signal Upgrades On The Railroad Continues - Inbound Approach To Rock Ridge Freight Yard

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog. 

For those who have followed my blog and know about my operating sessions, this blog post will go into some detail on how I'm enhancing the operations of these sessions. 

Signals are on the railroad and are controlled by the dispatcher/tower operator (one and the same person during an operating session). I’m upgrading the entire signal system with the ultimate goal of having trains run bi-directional on the entire railroad. The bi-directional running of trains starts on the lower level by Morris Plains and will end at Rock Ridge Freight Yard limits.

Rock Ridge Yard is the main focal point for freight in and around the railroad. Locals are dispatched from the yard. Trains from other yards are dropped off or sent to those yards. Traffic to and from Rock Ridge is controlled by the dispatcher/tower operator and handed off to the yardmaster. 

Trains are stopped at the yard limit signs. There’s one signal head west from Rock Ridge Yard that is controlled by the tower operator at Little Jamaica. However, there are no signals at the start of the yard tracks going into Rock Ridge. 

During an operating session, there can be multiple trains moving on the railroad with 1-2 trains heading to the yard. At first, I’ve only sent one at a time to the yard, with one usually behind it. Adding signals to the approach to Rock Ridge will add to the operations of the railroad. 

Here’s what I’m doing for the approach. I’ve ordered 4 three color dwarf signals. Two for the approach to the yard and two for the departure. The departure dwarfs will be added later on as they are part of the Little Jamaica Interlocking controls (which will be a blog post by itself). These will be 3 color dwarf signals made by Custom Signal Systems. 

They look good and work on 12V DC LED’s. These will be controlled by the Rock Ridge Yardmaster. Standard setting will always show Red. During the operating session, he can set the signals as he sees fit in order to have trains proceed into the yard. For departures, the yardmaster lets the dispatcher/ tower operator at Little Jamaica know what is leaving and destination(s), which will be controlled at Little Jamaica. 

In order to get these installed, I needed two rotary switches. These are 2 pole, 3 position switches, which are perfect for controlling the aspects. 

These signals use magnet wire which is very thin. Soldering thicker wire is a challenge, but doable with a steady hand and good vision. The LED lights on the fascia for the yardmaster are 3mm LED’s. 

I’ve added 26 gauge stranded wire to both signals and LED’s, extra wire to reach terminal strips under the layout. 

Here’s what the final installation looks like at the approach to Rock Ridge.

The rotary switches and LED's are now in place. The panel will show each aspect of the signal.

I've run a 9V DC Power Supply to the terminal strips, which will eventually power all of the LED signals on the railroad.

Here's a video showing the signals and panel working on the railroad..

These will work just fine and I’m looking forward to the time when I can host an operating session with more than 2 other guys, which is my current Thursday night operating sessions.  We take turns being the yardmaster. Yes, the engineers have to listen to the yardmaster, but there’s nothing to stop us from harassing him! 

More posts of the signal upgrades and bi-directional operations on the railroad to follow on future blog posts. 

Thanks for reading! Comments are always welcome.