Sunday, July 18, 2021

Fascia Turnout Control

Operators of version 1 remember that there was not any on layout control of mainline turnouts. You had to either call the dispatcher or have a DT400 throttle to move turnouts.

As the new layout uses LCC for the accessory bus, there isn't a direct link where you can use the throttle to control turnouts. There is now a LCC-Loconet gateway, but as I do not want folks to use their throttles for turnout control, an alternative solution was needed until the full Dispatcher CTC panel is built.

Enter my solution - a small PCB with LEDs and pushbuttons. The bare boards are small enough to be "prototyping" size from the various Far East board houses and cost $.50 each.

I have made a couple of different versions so I could figure out what I liked the best in practice.

Green LED means turnout is "normal"; while a red LED being lit means "reversed" or "thrown", depending on what sort of term you like.

Here's the panel at Milford on duty.



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