East Norwood, OH in Z Scale

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, ok, so if you want to go with the printed photo route, we can make some hay out of that.

Would you be interested? And... would you be up for kicking in a few bucks to cover some supplies?

[Jesse6669]

Oh man, ok, so if you want to go with the printed photo route, we can make some hay out of that.

Would you be interested? And... would you be up for kicking in a few bucks to cover some supplies?

Yep, absolutely.  Let's chat via email and work out deets (as the kids say). 

[Jesse6669]

First train run!  I did some testing of the trackwork in McCullough and tweaking of turnouts.  The Atlas turnouts are good but there seem to be dead spots (will help if I run power in sets of 2 for low-speed running).  What I'd really like are these locos to have a stay-alive capacitor added but I'm not an electrical expert and not sure if that can be done in the space allotted in AZL engines.



The engine house is only about 80% complete here--there will be doors, a roof of styrene, more interior detail and lights.  I've been experimenting with overhead light fixtures using 0201 LEDs, and printed some details like those shown--a portable welder, air compressor and (not visible here) work benches.

I also ordered components for the CTC board control panel.  It's a 12x24 birch "art board" panel/frame .  I'll seal it, then gloss black and olive green Krylon, and decals for the lines.  Rotary switches and LEDs are en route.  Here's the artwork for the decal set: 

[Jesse6669]

Control panel pondering..

After receiving the frame/board for the control panel, I am coming to the realization that it's pretty big.  I mean, bigger than I envisioned (my bad, should've tested with cardboard first..). 

On one hand, it will look cool, and be closer to a prototype CTC board in size.  On the other--the train room isn't that big, and squeezing it under the benchwork, over the benchwork or in front of the benchwork takes away valuable work space or obstructs the view.  I could see banging my head or whacking it with my arm reaching for a car or bottle of paint in the various configurations.  And wiring will be a bit of a pain with a big bundle going above or below the layout.



Another alternative was mounting it to the right of the layout on the wall--almost like a piece of functional art.  I currently have a B&O TOFC logo plate (also "art"), which would need to be moved, but the board would look pretty good (see the mock-up below).  And wiring would be fairly straight forward.  As long as the floor space isn't crammed with boxes or other stuff, it'll be accessible.  Since I'm only using this to power the blocks, and set signal indications (switches are all hand-thrown) I'm not going to need constant access to the board.   



The other alternative is to re-size the board and make it small enough to realistically attach to the front of the fascia or above it--which would again still get in the way of workbench/storage or the layout (with it's hand-thrown switches), just not as much.  If anything I think I'd put it above the location of GK, with cable bundle run along the wall down the layout.

My leaning is to do the wall-mounted style.

[packers#1]

I like the way the wall mounted option looks, especially with the B&O logo plate above it. Definitely feels like another piece of railroad memorabilia hanging on the wall like it belongs.

[Jesse6669]

I put together the control panel over the last week and started basic wiring configuration.  This will control block power between 2 cabs/throttles, and allow manual control of signal aspects as the "GK Tower operator".

I started with a 12x24x2-inch painting "frame" like this:





I drew up a mockup in Inkscape basing the layout/design on my trackplan but with heavy inspiration from the original GK Tower model board.  I then had decals made of the white lines, symbols, and lettering.  And in the meantime ordered 5mm LEDs (Red/Green combined LEDs for the signals, and White for block occupancy), bezels, and rotary switches for the signals.  I also have an Atlas Selector for the cab control on 4 blocks. 
I masked off the board and painted the top gloss black Rustoleum where the model board will be, and bottom a cockpit green where the switches will be.



Applying the decals wasn't too hard-- I added some tape tags to align things properly, and kept a straight-edge on the board as well.  A full-size printout was also right below, folded down.



Mostly completed:



I mounted the board to the wall using a pair of hinges with removable pins, so the board can be pulled completely off the wall if needed by pulling the pins.  It can also swing up to access wiring.  I'll put connectors on the wiring harness running between the board and the layout.



Now that this is done I'm starting to test LEDs and circuits.  I'm pretty new to LEDs so this is a learning experience.  Block indicator LEDs will be getting up to 9v track power, so the LEDs will need more resistors (or different LEDs?).  Can I wire these for constant-not variable--voltage somehow?  The 5mm ones for the control panel are 3-4v max LEDs.  The signal LEDs are also on a lower voltage 3v max and will be powered by a 3vDC source with just enough resistance to keep the bulbs dim enough to be realistic.   
I added the Atlas Selector to the bottom and I'll be adding the rotary switches (signal control) this week sometime; I'll need to 3D print the knobs. 

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Looks great! Nice to see someone in the same boat as me. I'm still in my learning curve for LEDs and the such. I'm actually using a 5V USB power supply with some 470ohm resistors that came with the pack of 3mm LEDs I got off Amazon. That supply powers both the LEDs on my control panels and the NJ International signals I have.

Question on the panel itself. What are the hollowed out track lines for? Does that indicate track outside of GK Tower's control?

[Jesse6669]

Looks great! Nice to see someone in the same boat as me. I'm still in my learning curve for LEDs and the such. I'm actually using a 5V USB power supply with some 470ohm resistors that came with the pack of 3mm LEDs I got off Amazon. That supply powers both the LEDs on my control panels and the NJ International signals I have.

Question on the panel itself. What are the hollowed out track lines for? Does that indicate track outside of GK Tower's control?

Based on my interpretation of the original model board, yes--those would be industrial sidings.  West to east, they are GM, Zumbiel and Weir Frog.  I also used the symbology for the PRR/I&O yard to indicate multiple tracks (modeler's license).  By the way, your posts about the panel you made were the inspiration for this approach. 

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Based on my interpretation of the original model board, yes--those would be industrial sidings.  West to east, they are GM, Zumbiel and Weir Frog.  I also used the symbology for the PRR/I&O yard to indicate multiple tracks (modeler's license).  By the way, your posts about the panel you made were the inspiration for this approach.

Much appreciated! Your interpretation is making me rethink at least one of my panels. Not that I need another project or anything...

[Jesse6669]

Ruminations on control panel function (specifically track occupancy):  I had hoped to use track power to illuminate LEDs showing "track occupancy" when the block was ON for a controller; I'm using an Atlas "Selector" so was just going to add leads to the LED from the bus and block track lead.  However given the variable voltage and changing polarity, the LEDs won't be constant/non-dimming when power is applied, nor will they be lit one direction when the polarity is flipped.  I think I want DPDT switches instead of the Atlas Selector, really--one 3 pole/3 position switch for each block with two poles being track power the other being the panel indication (on different power).  The Selector was a thought to keep things simple but seems it just made things more complicated!  Oh well, it won't break the bank and can possibly be used elsewhere or picked apart.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Ruminations on control panel function (specifically track occupancy):  I had hoped to use track power to illuminate LEDs showing "track occupancy" when the block was ON for a controller; I'm using an Atlas "Selector" so was just going to add leads to the LED from the bus and block track lead.  However given the variable voltage and changing polarity, the LEDs won't be constant/non-dimming when power is applied, nor will they be lit one direction when the polarity is flipped.  I think I want DPDT switches instead of the Atlas Selector, really--one 3 pole/3 position switch for each block with two poles being track power the other being the panel indication (on different power).  The Selector was a thought to keep things simple but seems it just made things more complicated!  Oh well, it won't break the bank and can possibly be used elsewhere or picked apart.

I had thought last night while working on one of my panels. Without paying for fancy sensors to show occupancy, you could at least wire a DPDT to show there's power to a block. You could get fancy and use a bi-color LED to show which cab is selected too. Not completely helpful, but it would look cool. That's about all I'm getting out of my panels...

[Jesse6669]

I had thought last night while working on one of my panels. Without paying for fancy sensors to show occupancy, you could at least wire a DPDT to show there's power to a block. You could get fancy and use a bi-color LED to show which cab is selected too. Not completely helpful, but it would look cool. That's about all I'm getting out of my panels...

That's exactly what I am trying to do.  Are you sure that works when polarity is reversed for direction change?  (Edit after doing some pondering it appears yep that should work!)

[chuck geiger]

This is the best Z we've seen.

[Jesse6669]

A quick update:

• All the track wiring is done under the layout with everything running to a terminal block near the Model Board control panel.  It's fairly neat, but I think I will keep wiring more top-of-mind on my next layout--with more holes drilled for wires between modules.  I'm testing running but still not 100% happy with the Atlas switches.  They aren't great at slow speeds (wish for a keep-alive in Z scale..).  I will be wiring the cabs/throttles and picked up some nifty plugs-- I'm intending to put them into the fascia with one by McCullough and the other by the B&O main.. and then will have to run the leads back to the control panel to the block/cab selection input.  I also need to wire up the model board switches and add the LEDs.  There are 4 more DPDT switches to be added for the cab/block selection as well, with some decals for the switch "covers".  I'll add a pic when I get that done.
• A couple months ago I picked up a Kato SoundBoard but I'm going to worry about integrating that later.  It's a bit problematic because it needs to be between the throttle and the track for the throttle used.  I have a feeling the 2nd throttle won't be used very much so likely it'll be somewhere near McCullough Yard.

[Jesse6669]

It's been a bit of a struggle trying to motivate myself to wire up the control panel, but I'm slowly picking away at it.

The front of the control panel is done and all switches installed;  DPDT block/cab control are disguised as "Call on Signal" switches;  for each block 1 through 4, cab A or B.  When powered, the block occupancy light will be lit.  Not totally prototypical but looks ok I think, and it's functional for my model railroad.  Rotary switches will control signals manually.



The first step will be block/cab control switches so I can run trains.  Wiring up the back of the control panel is a little confusing to me so I took a picture and printed it, and did some chicken-scratching to give myself a rudimentary wiring diagram.  Not shown is the wiring for the occupancy LEDs but that's a little easier.  I'll move on to wiring the signal switches later, possibly after rail is painted and basic scenery down since that's the time the signals will go in.