Technology

 If you didn’t already know I am absolutely terrified of technology. I have GRUDGINGLY accepted DCC, and I had , I think three tortoise switch machines on my old layout, out of some 350 turnouts*1. I do not like all these layers of technology, one on top of another, or in the case of model layouts, one beneath another.

I do not want anything on the layout I cannot fix right away, like during a session. So complex switch panels are out of the question.

On AIR2 I am contemplating adding some form of detection to control entry into my two helixes. I’m not worried about a head on collision, but rather a rear end collision. 

I asked some friends who are knowledgeable in these things, and as usual… got nowhere. 

What precipitated this was I saw a “plug and play”  system on a podcast on YouTube, “Larry Pucket, the DCC Guy” . This system, as demonstrated by Larry, SEEMS to be exactly what I want. But when I asked other modelers, OMG*2 was this a divisive can of worms.

This is a very common problem among Model Railroad on-line groups. I assume this problem is common with every other group as well since it seems to be more human nature than anything else. You can never get one simple answer. To quote me, “I don’t want it right, I want it RIGHT NOW”*3. I want one single solution, that I will either live with, or replace at a later date. I do not want a lot of confusing, and TIME CONSUMING discussion that, frankly, I do not understand. What I want is the illusive easy answer*4.

The system, as relayed by Larry Puckett, is by a company named “Hyperfocus”. Their system is a series of electronic modules designed to sense current draw, like that caused by a model locomotive on a model train track. And once sensing this draw or resistance, the module changes the signal indication from a green LED to a red LED. Once the resistance is no longer sensed, the module returns the light back to GREEN.

Additionally these modules can be linked, with VERY SIMPLE wiring, in a chain. If three modules are linked, resistance sensed in block 1 will turn the LED in block 2 RED, and the LED in block 3 will go YELLOW. When the locomotive enters block 2, blocks 1 and 3 go red. 

It’s an ABS signal system. 

These modules also have the ability, if so wired, to detect when a turnout is thrown against the normal current of traffic, and the LED’s in that block go red. But let’s not go down that rabbit hole right now.

These modules use current draw in the track to determine if the track is occupied, not an optical detector. OMG! “Current draw is BAD!”, “Optical detectors are BAD!”, “You MUST do it this way!”, “NO! You must do it THAT way!”…

All I want is a signal light at each end of the Helix that will tell train crews if the helix is occupied. Now I have to put resistors on over 2000 cars. Now I have to have crews all wear white shirts, or all wear blue shirts, Wait,  WHAT?!

I think I’ll put up a sign that reads, “Before you enter the helix, look inside of it, if you see another train in there, STOP. Wait for it to exit, then proceed”

With the way my train crews ignore all my written instructions, that’s a recipe for disaster.

*1: The total number of Tortoise switch motors on AIR1 was something like eight (8), but I cannot remember the exact number. It wasn’t many. -BUT- if you count the Tortoise machines at each T.O. signal the number rises to something in the neighborhood of 22.

*2: The abbreviation OMG is currently famous from a lot of mindless girls on the internet. However Admiral Jackie Fischer was famous for abbreviations in his communications, and “OMG” is liberally sprinkled through all his correspondence.

*3: This was an almost daily occurrence at my old job, the studios. Remember, there’s never time to do it right, but there’s always time to do it over.

*4: The easy answer. It’s my experience that, generally, there IS an easy answer. You just never seem to find it if you ask more than one person. Asking a committee to settle on one easy answer is a disaster. I think the best thing you can hope to achieve by asking a group is to learn a lot of stuff you do not need to know, but by learning what you don’t need, you eventually learn what you DO, actually, need. It’s the time it takes to go through that process that I recoil from. So since what I’m building is not going to carry people to another planet, the first, easy solution, which may or may not actually be the best answer in the long run, is, in fact, THE BEST ANSWER.