Tramway signals, good for any single track with passing loops

[tramcar trev]

The automatic signaling system aka Colour Light Staff (in tramway circles).

Here is the board and set up for the simple version that controls one section of single track. A mate of mine designed this and to his great credit its simple and it works.

With a little bit of lateral thought with only 2 of these I could control the entire system by ?leapfrogging? the sectors each controls, there could be any number of switches and within reason any number of sections could be controlled.

Basically what happens is when the units are powered up they are all at green, a tram (for the purposes of the exercise lets say No1) equipped with a magnet passes over one of the ?Hold? reed switches and that turns off the power (to the track) in the sector its protecting the staff goes to red. If another tram approaches the protected section it stops at the red light and waits until No1 has cleared the single track, No 1 then passes over the release switch, turns the staff to green and powers the track allowing the stopped tram to move off. Simplicity itself! I understand the designer will soon have kits on eBay, but he has asked that his contact details are kept a closely guarded secret?..

This will make the whole thing semi automatic and prevent collisions when motormen are not paying attention, fully manual operation will be available by bypassing the power switching and allow Motormen to just use the colour light staff adding lots more fun and realism.

Other modules will be added if needed which will allow trams to follow each other and stop behind if there is a tram stopped in front. But let me get the simple version sorted first the other boards have transistors on them or for those unfamiliar with such, these are little black things with 3 wires coming out of them?.

The boards will be dipped in liquid tape for weather proofing purposes and will be out of sight under the layout.

The placement of the reed switches is critical and this also has to be completed and the track ?glitch? free before and road works or overhead can be started. Soooooooooo I guess this is the next step??

 

[nicebutdim]

That's a good circuit, it's very similar to one I've made at some point. Here's the schematic if anyone wants to have a go at making it themselves http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/projects/signal.htm < Link To Model Railway Signal Project

 

[tramcar trev]

Yes that one is even easier to build....

 

[tramcar trev]

A chap asked me if I could make him up a batch of these boards for his railway. Ok set to and built them... all as dead as a dodo when I tested them. took me hours to work out I had the 1n4001 in the wrong way around... I absolutley despise ageing...

 

[nicebutdim]

At least you turned the power supply on first. I've forgotten to do that before.

 

[playmofire]

At least you turned the power supply on first. I've forgotten to do that before.

Yes, turning the power on is always a good start. One of my staff one day couldn't get the computer system to start up and called out the engineers - and, yes, you've guessed, the socket was turned off! After that, all instructions started:

1. Is the machine plugged in? If "Yes", go to step 2; if "No", plug it in.

2. Is the socket switched on? If "Yes", go to step 3; if "No", switch it on.

 

[nicebutdim]

At least you turned the power supply on first. I've forgotten to do that before.

Yes, turning the power on is always a good start. One of my staff one day couldn't get the computer system to start up and called out the engineers - and, yes, you've guessed, the socket was turned off! After that, all instructions started:

1. Is the machine plugged in? If "Yes", go to step 2; if "No", plug it in.

2. Is the socket switched on? If "Yes", go to step 3; if "No", switch it on.

Shouldn't the first one be,
Is the computer user concious? If yes, go to step 2. If no, resuscitate user.

 

[Walts-Playmobil]

Would it not be better that when you turned the system on all lights went to red. The first tram would then turn its signal on to green and after it had passed it, it then turned to red. After the tram had left the single line section the next tram to approach the section would then turn the appropriate signal to green.
If a tram approached a signal while a tram was in the single line section it would have to wait until the tram in the single line section had cleared. This is the method I use with 7.25? miniature railway.
I have a further complication that I have to make sure that the train has also cleared the loop before allowing another train to proceed behind it.

 

[tramcar trev]

Would it not be better that when you turned the system on all lights went to red. The first tram would then turn its signal on to green and after it had passed it, it then turned to red. After the tram had left the single line section the next tram to approach the section would then turn the appropriate signal to green.
If a tram approached a signal while a tram was in the single line section it would have to wait until the tram in the single line section had cleared. This is the method I use with 7.25? miniature railway.
I have a further complication that I have to make sure that the train has also cleared the loop before allowing another train to proceed behind it.

I have chosen to have everything power up at GREEN for the reason that if it is a GREEN state then the trams can be driven manually in the likely event of a signal failure. The way my "route" is set up as cars leave the depot area and commence their journey they set the signal blocks behind them so that the car following is controlled by the car in front. Its only a small layout and there will be 3 cars on the circuit at anyone time....

 

[tramcar trev]

OK, The vero board boards are useless when used outside if they have a phenolic substrate. I had a couple of these outside in plastic containers over the Canberra winter and the frost destroyed them EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE UNDER COVER... the substrate delaminated, the tracks fell off, component leads pulled through the holes.... A total disaster that I did not foresee, mind you it could have been a batch of dud board...
I have decided that I won't bother with it any more and have drawn up artwork to make the boards in the conventional manner on FR4 single side copper board. I will be making up a batch of these if anyone wants any let me know, you can have them at the cost price of materials + post or you can make your own, send me a PM and I'll email you the hi res full size artwork. This circuit can be used with start up at red by using the NO contacts on the relay and swapping the position of the leds in the wiring. I have also modified the board so that it will now accept a FRM1-1C1 10Amp relay as well as the smaller 5 amp relay (edit) only 1 relay on the board, I meant that you can have one or tother)

 

[tramcar trev]

Ok here is my first batch of homemade PCB's. In a past life these would have had the QC manager hospitalised, nothing that a conductive pen won't fix..... I also made up a UV light to expose the boards, to get a decent board the globe has to be about a foot away and expose for 5 mins other wise I found I got furry edges..... The smaller boards on the slab are for constant lighting in the tram cars...

 

[trammayo]

Smart work Trev. You never cease to amaze!

 

[tramcar trev]

Smart work Trev. You never cease to amaze!

It's a bit like riding a bycycle, AND the ironic thing is that I used to use a CNC engraver to make PCB's and it got updated so I bought the old one for a song then sold it on to a mate who wanted it desperately and now wont allow anyone to use it....

 

[tramcar trev]

The cabling for the colour light staff has been all but completed and the installation of the new simplified system has also started with 2 sections already having their controllers connected. I was having trouble getting reliability in the triggering of the signals and I had to do some research into reed switches and activating magnets. It appears that reed switches actually prefer to be stroked longitudinally rather than across them. However I found some reed switches performed erratically depending on the ?gauss? of the magnet; reed switches are not all the same and one has to know what one is doing when one buys them and I just bought mine via eBay without realising that they need a longitudinal stroke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss_(unit) you can study all about it there??
Each tram will have 2 magnets (12mm X 2mm) fitted beside each other but offset at 45 degrees to give sufficient magnetic field to ensure the reed switch is triggered. It doesn?t matter if the switch gets 2 pings, the forward motion of the tram will provide a sort of oblique stroking action. For emergency use by the ?Inspector? will be a magnet on a swagger stick to manually trip any reluctant reed switches, also to allow trams to reverse through a section without retripping an already tripped reed switch??they are encapsulated in a resin box to resemble the usual cast iron plates and paraphenlalia one sees on a tramway, I hope moisture doesen't get in.
The circuit boards (PCB?S) are housed in small plastic boxes with the wiring coming up through the bottom. The theory is that gross water will drip off the wires at the lowest point and the hole will allow the box to breathe and dry out if water gets in there. Access for repair replacement is quick and easy and its all screw connectors except the power connection at the supply bus which is a very clever insulation displacement arrangement snapped on with pliers. I was reminded by an associate about the dramas of trying to keep water out of electronic fish callers and the simplest methods worked, the fish callers themselves were an undocumented failure?. This looks all very Heath Robinson but it will work!
The actual pretty little boxes with the red and green leds in them won?t be connected till the traction poles are planted as they fit to them in most cases. The final ground level has to be finished before I can plant the Poles and string the overhead? the tedious bit is going to be filling in between the track with the cobblestones as per ?Hard Place?. I may call for volunteers??????

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[MRail]

I may call for volunteers??????

No probs, Trev, just send the tickets...

 

[tramcar trev]

Rightoh... simply go to your nearest international airport and book your tickets on the LVET corporate account, they will issue you with a plain ticket..... or you can come and stay and get all sorts of welfare handouts if you come via leaky boat from Indonesia.....

 

[tramcar trev]

Hey chaps they work....
The rain has cleared up and I have had the chance to get the colour light staff up and running.

That in itself was not difficult; I just had to connect up the red green & black wires from the boxes to the circuit boards. What is kind of ?WOW? is that it all worked first go, no fiddling no tweaking, it just worked as planned. It?s only in the Eastern section at this juncture. The LEDS are bright enough to be seen in daylight.
I?m starting to get the sense that after 2 years I?m actually getting somewhere?

​

 

[MRail]

I?m starting to get the sense that after 2 years I?m actually getting somewhere?

It's all coming together, then.
You must be well chuffed!

 

[nicebutdim]

Very smart, Trev. It is nice when it all works 1st time. I interlocked mine with points (and soon the level crossing) and it took a little fiddling to get working so that trains passed green lights that changed to red, rather than the other way round, or lights changing at platforms where a train wasn't even present.

 

[tramcar trev]

I'll leave the interlocking to you mate.... I guess that's the difference between railway (light or heavy) and tramway, my setup only protects single track sections. I hope when I get the lot working that it will handle 4 trams at any one time without rear ending.....