Hey everyone, been a while since I was last on the site. Probably about 2 years..... A lot has changed since then, sold the last railway and moved back to New Zealand. Started a new job, moved house twice and have now settled down a bit. Thought it was time to start filling up the garage with a new layout, so introducing to you all the Saint Cergue Swiss Mountain Railway. That is it so far. A name - and not a particularly original one either. But will do for the moment. Pretty much have a track design in my head based from the previous Noch Kaiserstuhl layout I built whilst living in Switzerland, double loop on the base with a raised figure 8 type upper track, however now on a custom made 2.4m x 1.2m XPS foam over ply board. BTW XPS foam is hard to find in NZ and crazy expensive. Having learnt some hard and valuable lessons from my previous attempt, I aim to have a fully automatic layout using JMRI, CMRI (or something similar and wifi) with animations like moving cars, a gondola, lights etc. Should be one interesting journey.
For layout control, signals, panels, etc., you might also consider LCC (Layout Command Control, US NMRA Std) and/or it's parent Open Layout Control Bus. Like CMRI, LCC is CAN bus based, or LCC can also communicate via Ethernet/WiFi. LCC also incorporates throttle-CS communications, such that all throttles are updated when a loco speed, options, etc. changes. TCS Command stations and WiFi throttles employ LCC via WiFi and/or CAN. RR-CirKits has several IO LCC CAN modules, with IO cards for switches, signals, occupancy detection, IO, an LCC-Loconet bridge, and a USB interface. LCC is set up such that once the nodes are configured (using JMRI, etc.) the LCC bus and nodes are autonomous, and don't need a computer to operate (unless you want to use JMRI for a control panel, bridge to non-LCC peripherals, etc.) Full disclosure: I have a TCS CS-105 command station and throttle bundle, which connects via WiFi to a computer running JMRI for programming locos and configuring LCC nodes. JMRI can also bridge the command station to Wi-Throttle WiFi throttles and smart-phone apps. TCS WiFi throttles can speak either LCC or Wi-Throttle (user selectable, not simultaneously.) Unfortunately, I have not been able to use it yet, since we're getting ready to move.
Do you really plan to model this small red train that climbs up the mountain from Nyon? (Company called NstCM). Or is it just a random name? Envoyé de mon SM-G990B2 en utilisant Tapatalk
That sounds interesting, will look into this. Was only looking at CMRI/JMRI combo as I have a ton of arduino Nano wifi boards left over from the last layout and a basic understanding of Arduino programming a few sketches that kinda worked ok, but if this LCC is wifi friendly then it might work better for me. Have also been dabbling in mrrwa and loconet, but that goes a little over my head sometimes!
Not 100% accurate model of the train but something along those lines. A double main line running a loop on a lower level with an incline railway up a mountain, complete with (previously made) castle and gondola. Got a little Fleishmann DCC track cleaning loco that looks the part, and managed to find the matching carriages second hand. Loved that railway for taking me and my mountain bike up the mountain before hurtling back down at crazy speeds back to the station to repeat.
After a bit of hunting around all the local DIY shops near where I live, finally managed to gather a couple of sheets of XPS foam for the base board. Oddly enough it is not a popular product in New Zealand and the store I got this stuff from had it on the top shelf in the warehouse for the last three years, it had been there long enough that it was no longer in the system and no-one knew how much to charge! By luck, they gave me a great deal of $50 for the four sheets, didn't need all four, as the base is 2.4m by 1.2m and each sheet is 2.4x0.6 but the extra will come in handy for building the mountains. Underneath the sheet is a simple framework with 50x50mm and 25x25mm lengths of wood, along with a 5mm sheet of ply. All up the whole base is quite stiff and rather light. While I was building the base I made a small portable layout to be able to transport around the house and tinker, this is to keep the Owner of the checkbook happy so I wasn't spending all my time in the garage and I can do small projects with arduino's and the like before incorporating it into the main layout. It is just a simple loop of the track that came with my Fleishmann DCC set, have divided it into five isolated blocks for future block detection projects plus areas to install different types of detectors, be it reed switches, IR or even RF microdots. I have also been doing a bit of stock taking with the second hand track that was kindly donated by an old gentleman down the road, I was driving passed his house the other day and saw him struggling to load something into the trailer. Stopped to give him a hand and turns out he was throwing away his old layout! Needless to say I offered to take it off his hands for him (for the costly sum of 24 beers) plus a few locos and wagons along with other bits on bobs. Next step is to start marking out the track plan on the board. Downloaded and printed Sumner's track radius guide so will see how that goes!
