Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[Cajonpassfan]

Video works for me.

Not for me, without $joining$😜
No thanks also...
Otto

[C855B]

Now that's bizarre about the "joining" thing, guys. I don't see it on any of my computers that aren't registered with Vimeo or have any residual cookies from my logging in. I will investigate this. If it is indeed the case, I don't know what to do about posting vids in threads, 'cuz it sure as heck isn't going to be YouTube.

EDIT: Okay, I have one thing for you guys ( @Cajonpassfan and @basementcalling ) to check if you're interested. Do you have Google accounts, and are you logged into them? If so, log out and clear cookies and cache and try the Vimeo link again. They seem to have a new linkage to Google - which puzzles me, as YouTube is a competitor - and I have to wonder if it's bringing up that join/pay page you're talking about. I've tried the Vimeo link on six different systems - 3 Mac, one Win7 and 2 Ubuntu/Linux, plus one VPN to change the IP it sees, and all went straight to the video with no interference.

Paging @Ed Kapuscinski . You have any suggestions?

[Carolina Northern]

Video worked fine for me on Chrome and signed in to Google.

Don

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Man, you need one of those drones that does the "auto follow" thing to properly railfan your layout.

[Specter3]

Mike

Great to see you in the layout room again. I saw an SOU box and was happy. Just getting something running has so much value in keeping your motivation up.  I always look forward to your stuff.

[C855B]

Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I just bought a ScaleTrains.com GP30B. That's right, HO. Don't tell Robyn.

It's going with an Athearn DDA40X I bought several years ago as a shelf queen display model. GP30Bs have fascinated me since I was a teenager railfanning Cajon Pass. The ScaleTrains model appears to be finely detailed, and it was offered in the most prominent road number, to me, at least: 727B. I recall seeing that specific locomotive at least three times while hanging out at the Santa Fe station in San Bernardino, and besides, "727" was the street address number of the first house I lived in growing up. So there. I'll take a pic of the display shelf bearing the precious artifacts once the 30B arrives.

I have three Hallmark GP30Bs (brass) in N, but they need more attention than I have time for to get running smoothly. Besides, the two factory-painted versions are simply the wrong colors and have 1980s-quality lettering. One is decodered but is rarely run. If ScaleTrains deigns to port theirs to N, the brass will find itself on a train show table.

In other layout news, the past two weeks I have been banging my head against JMRI and its "logixNG" layout automation language. Current project is programming one - yes, 1 - three-head signal for a complicated junction. I think I cracked that particular nut this past week and am currently debugging the aspect logic tree. When it's all working I'll post the IF-THEN-ELSE code here once resolved as a sleep aid for most everybody.

[wcfn100]

If ScaleTrains deigns to port theirs to N, the brass will find itself on a train show table.

They're supposed to be coming to the Rocky Mountain Toy Train Show in Denver the first weekend of April.  If I make the show, I'm going to lean hard on them about doing the GP30 in N.  I may even bring an Atlas chassis stamped 1999 on it as a visual reference to the fact we need an upgraded version.

Jason

[oakcreekco]

They're supposed to be coming to the Rocky Mountain Toy Train Show in Denver the first weekend of April.  If I make the show, I'm going to lean hard on them about doing the GP30 in N.  I may even bring an Atlas chassis stamped 1999 on it as a visual reference to the fact we need an upgraded version.

Jason

As a D&RGW guy, I could very well get my interest up in a newly tooled GP30, if it's done well.

[packers#1]

Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I just bought a ScaleTrains.com GP30B. That's right, HO. Don't tell Robyn.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked myself off the ledge from buying one of the CNW models because it’s so gorgeous; if they do a run of GP30u or come out with the GP35 next I’ll be taking the plunge and getting an HO one for future shortline things

[C855B]

Guys? You ready for this? Here comes the...

Signal Logic for One Signal (Out of Seven) Controlling a Moderately Complex Junction

The signal, three searchlights on a single mast:



The aspect displayed is "diverging clear (slow)", which in this case is indicating crossing over from the leftmost track to the rightmost track of this junction:



Controlled by this touch panel, the above junction labeled "GIBBON":



The signal icon in the lower right corner corresponds to "clear", which is correct for the turnout alignments and (lack of) occupancy shown on the panel for the leftmost track for 3 blocks.

You might notice a signal icon at the west (left) end of Cozad. It is a single head in ABS mode, protecting the three blocks to the west and approach for the junction at O'Fallons. To get your feet wet, here's the JMRI logic ("LogixNG") controlling this signal:

LogixNG: IQ:AUTO:0001  Cozad North WB Signal  (Enabled)
-----------------------------------------------------------

LogixNG: Cozad North WB Signal
  ConditionalNG: Cozad North WB Signal
    ! A
      If Then Else. Always execute
        ? If
          Sensor LS1610 is Active
        ! Then
          Set signal mast Cozad North WB to aspect Stop
        ! Else
          If Then Else. Always execute
            ? If
              Or. Evaluate Needed
                ? E1
                  Sensor LS1603 is Active
                ? E2
                  Turnout O'Fallons XOver 1-2 East is Thrown
                ? E3
                  Turnout O'Fallons XOver 1-2 West is Thrown
            ! Then
              Set signal mast Cozad North WB to aspect Approach
            ! Else
              If Then Else. Always execute
                ? If
                  Sensor LS1601 is Active
                ! Then
                  Set signal mast Cozad North WB to aspect Advance Approach
                ! Else
                  Set signal mast Cozad North WB to aspect Clear[/size]

Now here's the LogixNG for the triple-head monster at Gibbon:

LogixNG: IQ:AUTO:0002  Gibbon South WB Signal  (Enabled)
------------------------------------------------------------

LogixNG: Gibbon South WB Signal
  ConditionalNG: Gibbon South WB Signal
    ! A
      If Then Else. Always execute
        ? If
          Turnout Gibbon XOver 2-3 East is Closed
        ! Then
          If Then Else. Always execute
            ? If
              Or. Evaluate All
                ? E1
                  Sensor LS1642 is Active
                ? E2
                  Turnout Gibbon XOver 2-3 West is Thrown
            ! Then
              Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Stop
            ! Else
              If Then Else. Always execute
                ? If
                  Sensor LS1635 is Active
                ! Then
                  Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Approach
                ! Else
                  If Then Else. Always execute
                    ? If
                      Sensor LS1612 is Active
                    ! Then
                      Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Advance Approach
                    ! Else
                      Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Clear
        ! Else
          If Then Else. Always execute
            ? If
              Turnout Gibbon XOver 2-3 East is Thrown
            ! Then
              If Then Else. Always execute
                ? If
                  Turnout Gibbon Jct is Closed
                ! Then
                  Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Stop
                ! Else
                  If Then Else. Always execute
                    ? If
                      Or. Evaluate All
                        ? E1
                          Turnout Gibbon XOver 1-2 East is Thrown
                        ? E2
                          Sensor LS1641 is Active
                    ! Then
                      Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Stop
                    ! Else
                      If Then Else. Always execute
                        ? If
                          Turnout Gibbon XOver 2-3 West is Thrown
                        ! Then
                          Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Restricting
                        ! Else
                          If Then Else. Always execute
                            ? If
                              Turnout Gibbon XOver 1-2 West is Closed
                            ! Then
                              If Then Else. Always execute
                                ? If
                                  Sensor LS1634 is Active
                                ! Then
                                  Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Diverging Approach
                                ! Else
                                  If Then Else. Always execute
                                    ? If
                                      Sensor LS1611 is Active
                                    ! Then
                                      Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Diverging Advance Approach
                                    ! Else
                                      Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Diverging Clear
                            ! Else
                              If Then Else. Always execute
                                ? If
                                  Sensor LS1636 is Active
                                ! Then
                                  Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Stop
                                ! Else
                                  If Then Else. Always execute
                                    ? If
                                      Or. Evaluate All
                                        ? E1
                                          Turnout Cozad East Lead is Thrown
                                        ? E2
                                          Turnout Cozad East Lead is Thrown
                                    ! Then
                                      Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Restricting (Diverging)
                                    ! Else
                                      If Then Else. Always execute
                                        ? If
                                          Sensor LS1633 is Active
                                        ! Then
                                          Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Diverging Approach (Slow)
                                        ! Else
                                          If Then Else. Always execute
                                            ? If
                                              Signal mast Cozad North WB has aspect Stop
                                            ! Then
                                              Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Diverging Advance Approach (Slow)
                                            ! Else
                                              Set signal mast Gibbon South WB to aspect Diverging Clear (Slow)
            ! Else
              Many
                ! A1
                  Set signal head Gibbon South WB Top to appearance Flashing Red
                ! A2
                  Set signal head Gibbon South WB Middle to appearance Flashing Red
                ! A3
                  Set signal head Gibbon South WB Bottom to appearance Flashing Red[/size]

Bottom eight lines are an error fallout, flashing red on all heads to let me know I missed something.

Bear in mind I have six more of these to do for this junction alone. Yikes.

Any questions? 

[GaryHinshaw]

   

[Scottl]

This is very fun stuff, reminds me of coding the Arduino's for servo control.  DCC-EX has similar automation command language as well.

Here is my question though:  how many potential operators can actually decode signals during operations?  I for one, wouldn't have a clue how to interpret that indication.

[CRL]

🤯

[dandopinski]

Bottom aspect green: slow to clear (15 mph)
Middle aspect green: medium (30 mph)
Middle aspect flashing green: limited (45 mph)
Top aspect green: proceed at track speed

[C855B]

Bottom aspect green: slow to clear (15 mph)
Middle aspect green: medium (30 mph)
Middle aspect flashing green: limited (45 mph)
Top aspect green: proceed at track speed

Yes. Under speed signaling protocols. Not all RRs have adopted it.

This is very fun stuff, reminds me of coding the Arduino's for servo control.  DCC-EX has similar automation command language as well.

Here is my question though:  how many potential operators can actually decode signals during operations?  I for one, wouldn't have a clue how to interpret that indication.

I haven't dived into the XML on these exact structures yet, but what I have seen in previous messing around, LogixNG is astoundingly verbose at that level. The second "monster" logic tree has got to be >2000 lines in the XML. I was accustomed to cut-and-paste much of the layout operating structure such as sensors and turnout control in the XML and then touching-up panel positions in the GUI to avoid the clunkiness of the table entries, but LogixNG looks to require use of the supplied tools.

I'm doing a big cheat on the aspects, falling back on old-school route signaling. Red-red-green simply means you're about to diverge to two tracks over. Red-red-yellow means you're diverging two tracks over and to expect a red at the first signal on the rightmost track. The only tricky ones are the two "restricted" indications: flashing red-red-red is a goofy solution to two crossovers thrown to end up back on the track you were on, and red-red-flashing red means you're crossing over to the rightmost track and the turnout into the grain elevator complex is thrown.

All fun stuff to entertain the troops!