What would be great is a tea room design as a carridge. With windows and behind the window are 55 inch screen display what is being fed live from a train on the track journey. Also the tearoom could feature a inside train with again screens to look at as if you were in the train engine itself as it makes it way around the track. All the best. Great railway and great ideas. Thank you
The right hight for the screens and panels is really a bifocal problem. The team needs to get LASIK or even better multi focal lens implants. As a old geezer myself, I have less neck pain since I had multi focal lens implants with my cataract removal. Might also help with the color issues. Hey, just having some fun. I am captivated by your layout videos.
Morning David and the time machine team. Great update on what’s becoming a fantastic model railway. I love the early BR era. I was born in Manchester in 1957 so missed most of the steam locomotives as they finished in 1968 but train spotting in the early 70 with those big BR diesel types especially the Westerns my favourite diesel locomotive. McKinley had captured my early train spotting days. Thanks for making such a fabulous layout and putting it on RUclips for us all to enjoy. Thanks Stevie.
I would love a live stream of a running session with different streams for different areas that we could bounce between to watch and listen to such as a train leaves somewhere and we move to follow it ourselves or stay and watch a station if we wanted
As always David thenks for the update. A trivial thing which made such a difference to the new board was the use of some brown spray on the track. As scenic work is still miles away it makes everything so much nicer to watch. Good luck with all the planned work. All mine has gone forever now as I am virtually stuck in a chair all day. If there is nothing else before christmas then if you celebrate it (which I don't) I wish you a good one and a prosperous 2022. Cheers, Bob
yes... That was james' idea. Paint spray everywhere! It does look better. You will laugh when we show the contraption I have bought to spray Sheffield! Here's to getting the last baseboard in by 2022. David
Hi David - I go through stages where some videos I love and some I dont. I am not the brightest lightbulb in the box, and I have to say I do struggle, sorry give up, on your more technical videos. But oh my goodness I love just looking at the curving tracks and the brilliant pointwork that goes into your layout. I know full well that your teams modelling expertise is a joy to see. I just love that you started in 1956, what a fantastic year that was, well my parents thought so. Don't think they would now if they saw me now. I have no deadlines thank goodness, having just been diagnosed with Complex PTSD, deadlines have gone out the window. I think myself lucky if I can just put one section of the baseboard layout up LOL. You do have a beautiful layout, and I get excited when you put a video out. This one has not disappointed. It blows my mind that you can traverse the time periods with the running of your layout. The extra long realistic rakes are a wonder to watch. I would not want to be controlling anything in your layout, dont think my head could cope with that at the moment, just to see what you have done and accomplished would be enough for me, so thank goodness you still keep putting these videos out. My layout is nothing compared to yours, yes I have a run of 40' and it is in N gauge, so that alone should be exciting. Apart from family it is one of the main things in my life that keeps me going along with all the other fantastic RUclips sites that I follow. Mine will be from 1956 onwards, so watching yours gives me ideas and inspiration. I will be having no train control, just turning on my PC fills me with trepidation. Its designed for one man operation in what I call the large terminus and goods yard, whilst the main line (fingers crossed) can cope with about eight trains with carriages and goods going in different directions. Oh what a shame to lose the McKinley Low Level sign, but then again I guess they call that progress. You forget that it is in a way a number of layouts and like you said as years go by you have to go back to your original layouts' and update them. Very interesting I find. I am amazed how much money we plough into our hobbies, you only have to look at the cost of points, locomotives, point levers even and the cost just rockets upwards. I dread to think what I have paid out so far and I do not even have a train running on mine. So goodness knows how much all yours is worth. None of us live forever, so when someone purchases your home, how on earth do they take into account the layout LOL. Really looking forwards to more of your videos. You and your team keep safe. Brilliant video David, right up my street. Regards Chris
Dear Chris, Thanks for your comment. I get a kick out of giving enthusiasm and I appreciate it when I read replies like yours. I did once consider the idea of N gauge, but in hindsight that would have been a bridge too far with the space we have here! Take care, David
Enjoyable, thankyou. When you mentioned more weathering videos I thought yes please as the last one was brilliant. May I suggest a video on steam locomotive weathering next.
Hello Simon, Its such fun. I was talking with a professor from Cranfield the other week who has been to visit McKinley a while back. He blew my mind when he suggested we have to explore SIMulation technology. After listening to him for 30 minutes I was blown away. And there was me thinking we were on leading edge only to find it was already 2 stations on. Once we have finished the extension, I will find out how we get there to share operating sessions and camera views over the web. Who knows... David
@@dattouk just think remote operators across the world enjoying your great big Toy train set 😁 and it’s just an APP away. All you will need to do is make tea and train spot
Hi Peter thanks for highlighting trainsporters, they are good friends of mine carl tony and mark ,who have a marvellous product and are developing different size boxes that can cater for DMUs emu's with out need to uncouple .....................tony
Great stuff David. I must say, I do enjoy your presentations as you manage to find a balance between being involving and informative but in a very modest way, which is rather refreshing! 🤔 Really look forward to the upcoming new videos and the development of the panels 🤓 Cheers! 👍🍻🍀
I'm shook by the size of that cable bundles into your overhead display! is that one wire per accessory? Can't this operate as DCC accessories off one pair of DCC Bus control wires? I was thinking about what I might do for mine, I realised I could make one Arduino type microprocessor decode many sequential DCC addessess that I use for signals and feed data into a string of addressable RGB leds.. so I could display all signals in a sequence on a display board just from the DCC Track bus. I could also encode block detection back onto the tracksignal as a batch of accessories addresses, then I could display occupation from the track signal too..
yes is the answer... It was a very old board built before Laurence Barker developed the DTM30. The board was hard-wired to everything. If we had built it 3 years later it would have had 2 wires - LocoNet and 12V DC. At the time it was a life saver while we where developing the first layout and losing trains in the hidden areas. Now its time to move on.. HTML5 is probably where we will go with this.
Hi David - I am looking forward to the videos that are to come and Charlie will be busy !! Looking forward to the weathering video as the last one was excellent and I have got some Oil brushes ready to have a go on my Locos .
McKinley, David. What a Sunday. Full English Breakfast, Snooker on T.V. Doughnuts for morning tea and the latest McKinley Update. It does'nt get any better. One thing I've often wondered about with Sheffield good's yard on the modal. Is it the new yard that was built in 1965? This was the most modern goods yard in Europe. Before this time Sheffield had lot's of very small yards from pre- grouping day's that were no longer fit for purpose. Where this new yard was built Sheffield Council had already built high rise apartment blocks in 1960/61 that overlooked the yard. These apartment block design's were soon adopted by every council in the U.K. If you belive articles of the day, you'd think these" blocks" were the 2nd coming. Will you make model's of these apartments to overlook one end of the yard? I can see no rest for the wicked in 2022. Cheers, Chris Perry.
Hi Chris, As a kid I always wanted to see Tinsley, but never had the chance and worst of all there were no passenger trains to take me by there when I travelled regularly from Bath to Newcastle. We have played a bit with time here in the sense that we have warped Sheffield time by 5 years. I haven't planned the scenics yet, but your idea sounds tremendous. to me. David
@@dattouk David, The " Tower Blocks" were the ugliest things you've set your eyes on. The way the authorities describe and talk about them they were better than sliced bread. One Council member said " Soon there will be high rise apartments like this on every street corner."If memory serves " Path'e"news had an article on these apartments that was shown at the cinema's in 60/61. Cheers, Chris Perry.
Have you thought about getting an artist to draw an artist’s impression for how the layout with scenery will look? It would interesting to see a visual representation for what you have in mind.😀
No we haven't. I think we enjoy the collaborative approach with pieces of building kits and blue foam. The scenics will start in earnest later this year, once we have tested the operational aspects of the extension with the team. Its a step by methodical step process. We will share where are up to...
The trouble is it isn't a TV. People exert quite a force pressing buttons and we haven't found a VESA mount that gives adjustment yet is firm. We have two operators who are just 155cm (5ft 1in) tall and other who are 185cm. They have checked it out... Being flippant... I think platform boots are the order of the day or even those popup stools they have for kids at model railway shows.
We have a video coming out with scale miles. Its a long journey around Hades. Our engines are going to work for their living on McKinley. The total floor space for everything including aisles is 110 sq. metres. Quite modest by German standards.
Hello David, I hope you have your team are well. I wanted to ask if you envisioned using some sort of TV screen or other computer display instead of that massive board? I imagine you could find someone who could write a piece of software that could convert the raw data from your control system into a digital version of your good old route board. Thanks for the video, and I wish you, your team, and all your families a safe and joyous Christmas. Cheers.
I was thinking along the same lines. Any future changes to the layout would be a lot easier to handle if it's simply a case of modifying the design that's displayed on the screen.
Idea for digitizing McKinley low level panel: - Put one arduino board next to you existing output board. Add input expansion board as needed (depends on how many LEDs on panel are, i count something around 400-500 ?). Add RS485 converter. You don't have to modify existing setup on this side, just cut wiring that goes to display panel, and connect wires to Arduino's input expansion board. - on the other end, in McKinley low level panel, pun another Adruino board, with OUTPUT expansion board for LEDs as needed, (again, depends on how many LEDs on panel are, i count something around 400-500 ?), and also add second RS485 converter. You don't have to modify existing display panel, just cut wiring that goes to display panel, and connect wires to Arduino's output expansion board. - two arduino board will be communication over single FTP Cat5e cable, also display panel can be powered over the same cable. - arduino boards, expansion boards and converters are quite cheap, when ordering from china. Shouldn't be much expensive even when you buy from local store. - Programing for both arduinos should be quite easy also. I would find some hobbyist in your area. Or somebody from community could help ( guy from YT channel DIY and Digital Railroad have experience with arduino, and he is quite good).
Hi David & team. Loving all the videos, keep up the good work. For some reason you last 2 uploads have not made it to the regular video section on your channel like all of the other uploads have and therefore I didn’t get a notification when they were uploaded like I have in the past. Hope this helps. Also are you looking for new operators to join your team and how does one go about finding more information about joining the McKinley team. Many thanks.
Ben, it appears you not a subscriber to this channel. We think that in the past, you has received notifications purely based on your browsing history. If you subscribe and click the bell notification, you should then receive alerts. Hope that helps.
I wonder, despite all the installed computer systems whether you- ( when fully team running the layout) - ever a have train with a rake of coaches or wagons 'popping up' from 'hades' which no team member has ordered or knows about? I can just Imagine the shouts of ' where's that come from' and the chorus of 'nothing to do with me ' replies from around the layout!
Great videos. Thought / idea. Doesn’t train controller have a map / plan of the layout with signals, points etc with rolling stock ? Could portions of that be displayed digitally live on monitors above the appropriate area e.g. Wakefield ? If this could be done, your boards would always be up to date as and when modifications are done to the layout Be a bit like a modern day signal box
Hi Chris, I could rattle on for hours about this. In summary, TC is great at running trains and it does have a mimic board of sorts but it isn't designed to be the manual interface for 2 or 3 operators at every station. To service the full McKinley, we'd need another 8 screens just to have the mimic boards in TC and then to then recast them to different locations. There is little scope to "enhance" the graphical interface in TC to be visually appealing and intuitive to beginner operators. Maybe I'm just stuck in my ways... Time will tell.
Do you call the room "Yorkshire and the Humber" as all the places in - Sheffield, Wakefield, Halifax (not the one with the shipyard therefore someone doesn´t get a dock) and "Château de Doncaster" are in that region or just new part of the layout? Yes, do stream your operating nights.
I have a question about the control panels. They are currently boards with the image layer, and separate switches and LEDs to provide the user interface. These are all wired up individually to a connector. But behind the pretty front, there is a lot of wires. Aren't there cleaner solutions? These days making printed circuit boards (PCBs) is fairly cheap, and it will allow you to put all controles and lights on a board that can slide behind the pretty front, but that otherwise contains all wiring for the panel. You might even be able to put some of the interlocks on that board. The disadvantage is that moving an LED will be harder, but on the whole I'd think that the simplification is worth it.
Hi Maarten, There probably are better solutions. Trying to make LED lines or colour strips seems impossible to us at the time and we wanted to keep the panels as physical engaging as possible. We are constrained to using panels that connect with LocoNet - That is the 100% immovable and my wish to have tactile feedback for the operator when pressing buttons. We are exploring HTML5 for the new display boards which will feature track circuit lighting, but I couldn't see for the life of me how we could do it with these physical panels. Large touch screens are good but lack the resolution. As it is, the panels have just two wires going in. LocoNet and 12 volts. The insides are complex, but the layout logic have almost become iconic within the team - each one goes through 10 to 12 revisions. Now we have built three of them, we HAVE to keep with the same logic to ensure inter-operability between the stations. Anyway, I appreciate your question and hope my answer goes someway to explaining how we got to where we are. David
@@dattouk Thank you for the reply. I fully understand the desire for tactile feedback, and a physical switchboard, rather than just a touchscreen. My suggestion is to use a PCB the size of a panel to mount all lights and switches. This would mirror the front layout. Currently all lights and switches are connected using ribbon-cables, if I recall correctly. Quite a lot of them. It is those wires that would be replaced by traces on the PCB. It would probably leave room to include track lighting using LEDs, but that would probably require a microcontroller (some of those could pick up the information over WiFi). Building that can be a lot of fun, but you'd need just the right person to do that (and enjoy it). Using a PCB would make it a lot easier to replicate between stations, the design software would keep track of the logical connections while the physical layout is rearranged. But never change a winning team.
Once you watch all the videos and learn about what you are doing it's amazing. If you need any help with video mixing audio production I happy to offer my services for free. If you can supply contact details I can get in touch. All the best . Tony
Railway looks great but I don't think much too your fiddle yard name hades is a place in hell where none believes and worst criminal go before they go into hell. Don't take my word for it. It tells you in the old testament. Happy modelling 👺😀👍
Hades was the afterlife in Greek myology. I'm not sure it was associated with Hell then. We thought it quite apt for trains that leave the current world. They can live in splendour waiting for the chance to come back to life when the clocks go back. The alternative was Valhalla, but Hades was easier to spell.
What would be great is a tea room design as a carridge. With windows and behind the window are 55 inch screen display what is being fed live from a train on the track journey. Also the tearoom could feature a inside train with again screens to look at as if you were in the train engine itself as it makes it way around the track. All the best. Great railway and great ideas. Thank you
Thanks for the continued updates and content David. We all appreciate it greatly and love your work!
Thank you Eric.
The right hight for the screens and panels is really a bifocal problem. The team needs to get LASIK or even better multi focal lens implants. As a old geezer myself, I have less neck pain since I had multi focal lens implants with my cataract removal. Might also help with the color issues. Hey, just having some fun. I am captivated by your layout videos.
I watch the videos everyday I love the whole concept it is really amazing.
Morning David and the time machine team. Great update on what’s becoming a fantastic model railway. I love the early BR era. I was born in Manchester in 1957 so missed most of the steam locomotives as they finished in 1968 but train spotting in the early 70 with those big BR diesel types especially the Westerns my favourite diesel locomotive. McKinley had captured my early train spotting days. Thanks for making such a fabulous layout and putting it on RUclips for us all to enjoy. Thanks Stevie.
Hi Stevie,
Thanks for your support. Its very motivating to read them. I hope we can keep you entertained once the Time Machine is operating.
I know these videos tend to hamper progress but know we enjoy the updates and the ideas your team shares are amazing, so please continue to share
Jack
Thanks Jack, We will - despite the naysayers. Its all good fun.
I would love a live stream of a running session with different streams for different areas that we could bounce between to watch and listen to such as a train leaves somewhere and we move to follow it ourselves or stay and watch a station if we wanted
There is talk about this by Digital David, but thats for the future.
Hades.... Wouldn't Styx be a better name in that case?
Awe inspiring layout, glad I found your channel.
We have a junction named Styx. Hades is the Palace where the trains live in the afterlife.
As always David thenks for the update. A trivial thing which made such a difference to the new board was the use of some brown spray on the track. As scenic work is still miles away it makes everything so much nicer to watch. Good luck with all the planned work. All mine has gone forever now as I am virtually stuck in a chair all day.
If there is nothing else before christmas then if you celebrate it (which I don't) I wish you a good one and a prosperous 2022.
Cheers, Bob
yes... That was james' idea. Paint spray everywhere! It does look better. You will laugh when we show the contraption I have bought to spray Sheffield! Here's to getting the last baseboard in by 2022.
David
Hi David - I go through stages where some videos I love and some I dont. I am not the brightest lightbulb in the box, and I have to say I do struggle, sorry give up, on your more technical videos. But oh my goodness I love just looking at the curving tracks and the brilliant pointwork that goes into your layout. I know full well that your teams modelling expertise is a joy to see.
I just love that you started in 1956, what a fantastic year that was, well my parents thought so. Don't think they would now if they saw me now.
I have no deadlines thank goodness, having just been diagnosed with Complex PTSD, deadlines have gone out the window.
I think myself lucky if I can just put one section of the baseboard layout up LOL.
You do have a beautiful layout, and I get excited when you put a video out. This one has not disappointed.
It blows my mind that you can traverse the time periods with the running of your layout. The extra long realistic rakes are a wonder to watch. I would not want to be controlling anything in your layout, dont think my head could cope with that at the moment, just to see what you have done and accomplished would be enough for me, so thank goodness you still keep putting these videos out.
My layout is nothing compared to yours, yes I have a run of 40' and it is in N gauge, so that alone should be exciting. Apart from family it is one of the main things in my life that keeps me going along with all the other fantastic RUclips sites that I follow. Mine will be from 1956 onwards, so watching yours gives me ideas and inspiration.
I will be having no train control, just turning on my PC fills me with trepidation. Its designed for one man operation in what I call the large terminus and goods yard, whilst the main line (fingers crossed) can cope with about eight trains with carriages and goods going in different directions.
Oh what a shame to lose the McKinley Low Level sign, but then again I guess they call that progress.
You forget that it is in a way a number of layouts and like you said as years go by you have to go back to your original layouts' and update them. Very interesting I find.
I am amazed how much money we plough into our hobbies, you only have to look at the cost of points, locomotives, point levers even and the cost just rockets upwards. I dread to think what I have paid out so far and I do not even have a train running on mine. So goodness knows how much all yours is worth.
None of us live forever, so when someone purchases your home, how on earth do they take into account the layout LOL.
Really looking forwards to more of your videos. You and your team keep safe.
Brilliant video David, right up my street.
Regards Chris
Dear Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I get a kick out of giving enthusiasm and I appreciate it when I read replies like yours. I did once consider the idea of N gauge, but in hindsight that would have been a bridge too far with the space we have here! Take care,
David
Enjoyable, thankyou.
When you mentioned more weathering videos I thought yes please as the last one was brilliant. May I suggest a video on steam locomotive weathering next.
Noted.
Hi Dave. Great update and good to hear your plans for the coming months. Will look forward to upcoming videos. Have a great Christmas. Hugh
Its great how you accept technology and keep looking for the next giant leap forward. More videos please
Hello Simon,
Its such fun. I was talking with a professor from Cranfield the other week who has been to visit McKinley a while back. He blew my mind when he suggested we have to explore SIMulation technology. After listening to him for 30 minutes I was blown away. And there was me thinking we were on leading edge only to find it was already 2 stations on. Once we have finished the extension, I will find out how we get there to share operating sessions and camera views over the web. Who knows...
David
@@dattouk just think remote operators across the world enjoying your great big Toy train set 😁 and it’s just an APP away. All you will need to do is make tea and train spot
Hi Peter thanks for highlighting trainsporters, they are good friends of mine carl tony and mark ,who have a marvellous product and are developing different size boxes that can cater for DMUs emu's with out need to uncouple .....................tony
sorry david called you peter
Don't worry, I get called all kinds of names every day.. Most not repeatable here.
Phew what a layout, well done, looking forward to future videos , Merry Christmas
Thanks, you too!
Great stuff David. I must say, I do enjoy your presentations as you manage to find a balance between being involving and informative but in a very modest way, which is rather refreshing! 🤔
Really look forward to the upcoming new videos and the development of the panels 🤓
Cheers! 👍🍻🍀
Much appreciated!
Great content as ever always informative and enjoyable.
Looking forward to the continuing updates.
Cheers
Ade
Thanks 👍
I'm shook by the size of that cable bundles into your overhead display! is that one wire per accessory? Can't this operate as DCC accessories off one pair of DCC Bus control wires?
I was thinking about what I might do for mine, I realised I could make one Arduino type microprocessor decode many sequential DCC addessess that I use for signals and feed data into a string of addressable RGB leds.. so I could display all signals in a sequence on a display board just from the DCC Track bus. I could also encode block detection back onto the tracksignal as a batch of accessories addresses, then I could display occupation from the track signal too..
yes is the answer... It was a very old board built before Laurence Barker developed the DTM30. The board was hard-wired to everything. If we had built it 3 years later it would have had 2 wires - LocoNet and 12V DC. At the time it was a life saver while we where developing the first layout and losing trains in the hidden areas. Now its time to move on.. HTML5 is probably where we will go with this.
Hi David - I am looking forward to the videos that are to come and Charlie will be busy !! Looking forward to the weathering video as the last one was excellent and I have got some Oil brushes ready to have a go on my Locos .
McKinley, David. What a Sunday. Full English Breakfast, Snooker on T.V. Doughnuts for morning tea and the latest McKinley Update. It does'nt get any better. One thing I've often wondered about with Sheffield good's yard on the modal. Is it the new yard that was built in 1965? This was the most modern goods yard in Europe. Before this time Sheffield had lot's of very small yards from pre- grouping day's that were no longer fit for purpose. Where this new yard was built Sheffield Council had already built high rise apartment blocks in 1960/61 that overlooked the yard. These apartment block design's were soon adopted by every council in the U.K. If you belive articles of the day, you'd think these" blocks" were the 2nd coming. Will you make model's of these apartments to overlook one end of the yard? I can see no rest for the wicked in 2022. Cheers, Chris Perry.
Hi Chris, As a kid I always wanted to see Tinsley, but never had the chance and worst of all there were no passenger trains to take me by there when I travelled regularly from Bath to Newcastle. We have played a bit with time here in the sense that we have warped Sheffield time by 5 years. I haven't planned the scenics yet, but your idea sounds tremendous. to me. David
@@dattouk David, The " Tower Blocks" were the ugliest things you've set your eyes on. The way the authorities describe and talk about them they were better than sliced bread. One Council member said " Soon there will be high rise apartments like this on every street corner."If memory serves " Path'e"news had an article on these apartments that was shown at the cinema's in 60/61. Cheers, Chris Perry.
Have you thought about getting an artist to draw an artist’s impression for how the layout with scenery will look? It would interesting to see a visual representation for what you have in mind.😀
No we haven't. I think we enjoy the collaborative approach with pieces of building kits and blue foam. The scenics will start in earnest later this year, once we have tested the operational aspects of the extension with the team. Its a step by methodical step process. We will share where are up to...
For that controle panel for Wakefield have you considered putting it on some sort of hinged arm so users can adjust the position to suit them
I wondered about that too, a Vesa hinged wall mount (used for tv/monitors) would be a simple and cheap solution to use
The trouble is it isn't a TV. People exert quite a force pressing buttons and we haven't found a VESA mount that gives adjustment yet is firm. We have two operators who are just 155cm (5ft 1in) tall and other who are 185cm. They have checked it out... Being flippant... I think platform boots are the order of the day or even those popup stools they have for kids at model railway shows.
First the Like, then i watch the video
Hard to comprehend how much floor space the whole layout is using up excluding the different levels underneath. Must be some scale miles
We have a video coming out with scale miles. Its a long journey around Hades. Our engines are going to work for their living on McKinley. The total floor space for everything including aisles is 110 sq. metres. Quite modest by German standards.
Hello David, I hope you have your team are well.
I wanted to ask if you envisioned using some sort of TV screen or other computer display instead of that massive board? I imagine you could find someone who could write a piece of software that could convert the raw data from your control system into a digital version of your good old route board.
Thanks for the video, and I wish you, your team, and all your families a safe and joyous Christmas.
Cheers.
I was thinking along the same lines. Any future changes to the layout would be a lot easier to handle if it's simply a case of modifying the design that's displayed on the screen.
Hi Tony and Figulus,
Your ideas are on the money. Brainy Dave has been playing with HTML 5 and feels we can go far with that.
David
Idea for digitizing McKinley low level panel:
- Put one arduino board next to you existing output board. Add input expansion board as needed (depends on how many LEDs on panel are, i count something around 400-500 ?). Add RS485 converter. You don't have to modify existing setup on this side, just cut wiring that goes to display panel, and connect wires to Arduino's input expansion board.
- on the other end, in McKinley low level panel, pun another Adruino board, with OUTPUT expansion board for LEDs as needed, (again, depends on how many LEDs on panel are, i count something around 400-500 ?), and also add second RS485 converter. You don't have to modify existing display panel, just cut wiring that goes to display panel, and connect wires to Arduino's output expansion board.
- two arduino board will be communication over single FTP Cat5e cable, also display panel can be powered over the same cable.
- arduino boards, expansion boards and converters are quite cheap, when ordering from china. Shouldn't be much expensive even when you buy from local store.
- Programing for both arduinos should be quite easy also. I would find some hobbyist in your area. Or somebody from community could help ( guy from YT channel DIY and Digital Railroad have experience with arduino, and he is quite good).
Thanks for the hint. I will suggest it to Digital Dave and see what he makes of it.
Hi David & team. Loving all the videos, keep up the good work. For some reason you last 2 uploads have not made it to the regular video section on your channel like all of the other uploads have and therefore I didn’t get a notification when they were uploaded like I have in the past. Hope this helps. Also are you looking for new operators to join your team and how does one go about finding more information about joining the McKinley team. Many thanks.
Hi Ben, I'll ask and see what is happening.
Ben, it appears you not a subscriber to this channel. We think that in the past, you has received notifications purely based on your browsing history. If you subscribe and click the bell notification, you should then receive alerts. Hope that helps.
I wonder, despite all the installed computer systems whether you- ( when fully team running the layout) - ever a have train with a rake of coaches or wagons 'popping up' from 'hades' which no team member has ordered or knows about?
I can just Imagine the shouts of ' where's that come from' and the chorus of 'nothing to do with me ' replies from around the layout!
Fantastic. That is highly probable. Your comment made me laugh like a drain.
Thank you Terence.
Great videos.
Thought / idea. Doesn’t train controller have a map / plan of the layout with signals, points etc with rolling stock ?
Could portions of that be displayed digitally live on monitors above the appropriate area e.g. Wakefield ?
If this could be done, your boards would always be up to date as and when modifications are done to the layout
Be a bit like a modern day signal box
Hi Chris,
I could rattle on for hours about this. In summary, TC is great at running trains and it does have a mimic board of sorts but it isn't designed to be the manual interface for 2 or 3 operators at every station. To service the full McKinley, we'd need another 8 screens just to have the mimic boards in TC and then to then recast them to different locations. There is little scope to "enhance" the graphical interface in TC to be visually appealing and intuitive to beginner operators. Maybe I'm just stuck in my ways... Time will tell.
Do you call the room "Yorkshire and the Humber" as all the places in - Sheffield, Wakefield, Halifax (not the one with the shipyard therefore someone doesn´t get a dock) and "Château de Doncaster" are in that region or just new part of the layout?
Yes, do stream your operating nights.
I suppose we could as they are all in Yorkshire. They are all in the extension. "The Yorkshire room" yes... That has a nice ring to it.
I have a question about the control panels. They are currently boards with the image layer, and separate switches and LEDs to provide the user interface. These are all wired up individually to a connector. But behind the pretty front, there is a lot of wires. Aren't there cleaner solutions? These days making printed circuit boards (PCBs) is fairly cheap, and it will allow you to put all controles and lights on a board that can slide behind the pretty front, but that otherwise contains all wiring for the panel. You might even be able to put some of the interlocks on that board. The disadvantage is that moving an LED will be harder, but on the whole I'd think that the simplification is worth it.
Hi Maarten,
There probably are better solutions. Trying to make LED lines or colour strips seems impossible to us at the time and we wanted to keep the panels as physical engaging as possible. We are constrained to using panels that connect with LocoNet - That is the 100% immovable and my wish to have tactile feedback for the operator when pressing buttons. We are exploring HTML5 for the new display boards which will feature track circuit lighting, but I couldn't see for the life of me how we could do it with these physical panels. Large touch screens are good but lack the resolution. As it is, the panels have just two wires going in. LocoNet and 12 volts. The insides are complex, but the layout logic have almost become iconic within the team - each one goes through 10 to 12 revisions. Now we have built three of them, we HAVE to keep with the same logic to ensure inter-operability between the stations.
Anyway, I appreciate your question and hope my answer goes someway to explaining how we got to where we are.
David
@@dattouk Thank you for the reply. I fully understand the desire for tactile feedback, and a physical switchboard, rather than just a touchscreen. My suggestion is to use a PCB the size of a panel to mount all lights and switches. This would mirror the front layout. Currently all lights and switches are connected using ribbon-cables, if I recall correctly. Quite a lot of them. It is those wires that would be replaced by traces on the PCB. It would probably leave room to include track lighting using LEDs, but that would probably require a microcontroller (some of those could pick up the information over WiFi). Building that can be a lot of fun, but you'd need just the right person to do that (and enjoy it). Using a PCB would make it a lot easier to replicate between stations, the design software would keep track of the logical connections while the physical layout is rearranged. But never change a winning team.
Can't imagine why...
Get a box or platform shoes for the shorties 😂😂
We plan to.
Would it be possible to use a screen to project the layout plan in replacement to the board
Thats the plan. We are exploring SVG and HTML 5... Its early days.
Once you watch all the videos and learn about what you are doing it's amazing. If you need any help with video mixing audio production I happy to offer my services for free. If you can supply contact details I can get in touch. All the best . Tony
Railway looks great but I don't think much too your fiddle yard name hades is a place in hell where none believes and worst criminal go before they go into hell. Don't take my word for it. It tells you in the old testament. Happy modelling 👺😀👍
Hades was the afterlife in Greek myology. I'm not sure it was associated with Hell then. We thought it quite apt for trains that leave the current world. They can live in splendour waiting for the chance to come back to life when the clocks go back. The alternative was Valhalla, but Hades was easier to spell.