Next Model Railroaing Tech Breakthrough...

[Missaberoad]

Ken Rice:  Sound based on load was done in the 60s, by an O scale modeler, in a steam tender.  He used an analog strain gauge, basically some springs and a rheostat if I remember right, connected top the rear coupler, to measure the load on the engine, then adjusted the sound accordingly.  I have no idea how it sounded, but apparently it worked.

In fact I believe that was John Armstrong. 

[Mark W]

Regarding Sound, volume, and the Doppler effect, how about this idea: Throttle Centric Adaptive Location Based Sound.

What you need:
Something to track location of mobile decoder (wifi triangulation, old school block detection, ect)
Something to track the location of the throttle/operator (wifi, radio triangulation)
A sound chip with quite a bit of processing power.

The system constantly pings the mobile decoder and the throttle location.  If the mobile decoder is traveling toward the throttle, normal sounds play and the volume increases, if it's traveling away doppler sounds play and volume decreases. Users can control the distance mapping accordingly.

The sound package could either be onboard, distributed, or combination. 

I'm not sure how accurate triangulation would be at a room sized scale, but otherwise this should be totally possible with today's technology. 

[eric220]

Mark, for Doppler, it would actually be simpler than that. All you need is a proximity sensor. If you get within a certain range of the decoder, it triggers the Doppler effect. Once the distance starts increasing, it triggers the drop in pitch. Given the speed of light versus the speed of sound, with a sufficiently fast processor, it should be a plenty close enough approxation. Of course, it only works for one operator.

[nkalanaga]

Richie:  Yes, air and water are both fluids, and follow the same laws.  Airplane researchers often use flowing water to simulate airflow, adjusting the speed and and other variables to match the changed density.   Not quite "real thin water", although summer humidity in some areas feels like it, but the same principles apply. 

Missaberoad:  It may have been John Armstrong for all I know.  Considering some of the things he was into, I wouldn't be surprised.

Eric:  Given the ever-increasing power of home computers, we might be able to do it for multiple observers in the near future.  Put tracking devices on both the trains and the operators, headphones on the operators, and feed the sounds to the headphones.  No onboard speakers required, and each operator gets the sound from every train, properly adjusted to their own location and movement. 

Some virtual reality systems can do that now, for one operator, so handling multiple sound feeds and multiple listeners should be possible.  I'd expect to see it first in multi-player video games, and wouldn't be too surprised if it has already been tried.

[loyalton]

Speaking of virtual reality, that's the direction I can see things going for model railroading. It would be going well beyond MS Train Simulator and its add-ons, even beyond the 1:1 training simulator programs, with true rendering and sound.

Your basement can now hold more junk. Or no basement, no problem. Your railroad can be any size, any era. I can see a Google Glass type interface with maybe an actual control stand in front of you. You'd have either a cab view or railfan-type view. Realistic to very simplified operations would be possible. Proto or freelance scenarios would be available. You'd buy virtual components including locos and cars so you will still be able to complain about them not making what you want or need. Scratchbuilding and painting would still be possible. You can operate with friends over the net without distance limitations. My product will be a comfortable potty chair with a built-in fridge and snack storage so you'd never have to get up from operating.

[C855B]

Holodeck.

[eric220]

Holodeck.

Make it so.

[CNscale]

Microsoft HoloLens: http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

[peteski]

Some sound decoders offer Doppler effect as one of the DCC functons. All you have to do is to press that key on the throttle while the train is passing you. Cheap and easy - no computers or triangulation needed.