Automatic stop at signal when using DCC

[Ralphmp]

I have 2 points on my layout where tracks converge and yesterday it was purely by luck that a minor bump between 2 trains didn't turn out to be a major catastrophe.

To avoid a repeat, I'm trying to figure out how to create a system which ensures that if the points are set against an approaching train, the train stops safely.

As I see it, I have the following options:

1. Only run one train on my layout at once - foolproof but not very appealing

2. Create isolating sections of track ahead of the points, and use a supplementary switch (LGB 12070) on the points to turn off the power to the track that the points are set against - simple to install in theory, but as several of my locos have power buffers, trying to decide how long to make the isolating section would mean a fair bit of fiddling

3. Use a track contact + feedback module + the Massoth Autodrive feature to issue a "Stop" command when a loco approaches the points that are set against it - I like this concept as the loco is specifically told to stop, rather than relying on being deprived of power. I can also avoid the Stop command being actioned every time a loco passes the track contact, even when the points are set correctly, by using a 12070 switch to ensure the Track Contact is only powered up when the points are set against the approaching loco.
However, there is a problem with Option 3 - it looks like there is no "generic" loco address I can input to the Autodrive command sequence so that the instructions are processed for every loco. As I understand it, I have to set up a specific Autodrive sequence for each loco address, and there is a limit to the total numer of Autodrive sequences I can store.

There may also be a further option using different types of sensor to detect a loco and issue the Stop command but my only experience is with Massoth kit, and not being an electronics whizz I don't have the knowledge to figure out the individual components I'd need to build my own solution..

I'd be interested in any suggestions and hearing how other folks have tackled this issue. I'd also welcome comments on whether my assumptions on what I can / can't do with my Massoth kit are correct.

Thanks in advance

 

[Deleted member 1986]

Option 2:

"We" as in the Gang of 4 (now 3) as in the purveyors in mysterious of the "Dark Arts of DCC" used this method with some success on the late Alan H's garden layout using what is viewed now as prehistoric LGB MTS III equipment.

I say some success, the LGB 12070 supplementary switch, became an ongoing nightmare, probably ok for the Stone Age Analogue guys, where it might have to switch maybe half a dozen times a year, it certainly couldn't cope with in excess of two or three hundred times switching during a single DCC operating session.

It had to be bolstered up with additional Relays, which to be fair did work, and worked well, enabled switching routes, point motor control, uncouplers, and a fairly sophisticated signalling system, the issue of loco's fitted with "keep alive", was resolved by allowing a two foot section for the "dead zone"..........

Then came the immortal words from Exeter Geek "what if we do????????" aided and abetted by Gartenbahn.... Alan H looked heaven wards, me Hmm!, and as the Good Lady has now become infamous for "more bits of bl**dy wire"!!!!!!

Hence a move was made over to option 3, first with the PIKO system, then the Massoth System, now a combination of "Heinz 57" of equipment.

As you have astutely observed there a few limitations with the inbuilt "Automatic Structure", due to Alan H's departure from the mortal coil, we collectively have been floundering about for sometime, more or less got our heads together and going back to continue the work originally started for the "Automatic Project".

Many moons ago the limitation of Generic Addressing was originally resolved using DCC++, which in simple terms was whatever the loco's real address was the Arduino Program converted this to permanent stored number that was then sent to the Feedback Module, and the inbuilt Automatic Drive structure carried on as normal.

But in doing so we were moving away from our original goal, we had always said, "hands on only" and no computer control!

Back to the original plan, we have, you might say implemented a fudge or a bodge, we do it the other way round, rather than work on "STOP" we work on "GO".

By using the Train Detection Module, Feedback Module and the inbuilt Automatic Switch Function, which does not require a Loco Address, we use the "train detection sections" to operate the point decoders.

Best of both worlds, still able to use the magnets and reeds to perform other automatic routines, can even mix and match detection and reeds to perform complex train operations, and no computer!

In simple terms Train A departs, by using the inbuilt Automatic Routines, sets the scenario for Train B to arrive, Train B arrives, then departs, sets scenario for Train A to arrive, so on, and so forth.....

Collisions are avoided, "human error c**k ups" are a thing of the past.

At some point, Massoth "may" implement the Command Structure for the inbuilt Automatic Switch routine, then one day we'll have an Automatic Train Control System to drool over..............

 

[Ralphmp]

Thanks Arthur. Never occurred to me to "flip" the approach from STOP to GO - probably because I was very focused on ensuring a moving train couldn't jump points set against it.

I've no experience of the Train Detection Module so need to do some reading up and some planning (and then maybe a purchase or three from Muns!)

Best wishes

 

[chasaitch]

I need Someone, not just any one but a bloody expert. I use 2, but on my layout and ambitions I don't think that I have long enough sections to use a breaking module. My layout has evolved as has my ability to be conned into doing more clever things, or at least trying to. I will never have the thing finnished (does anyone) before I start pushing up daisies as my level of incompetance increases.

 

[idlemarvel]

...I will never have the thing finnished (does anyone) before I start pushing up daisies as my level of incompetance increases.

As I often say on train rides, it's the journey not the destination.

 

[chasaitch]

As I often say on train rides, it's the journey not the destination.

True! The kids around here would like to see the layout working. I have great fun seeing what doesn't work followed by periods of great despond!