march 08 progress

This has certainly sparked my interest and I understand the LEDs and the fiber optics part, but what are electronics behind the LED for?

The MRC Dual Power Controller has AC output for accessories that I built a full-wave bridge rectifier for to provide DC to the LEDs, the capacitor discharge unit (for the rail switches), and the relays that I think were used to control power in yards and possibly between mains. There's one large power transistor, if I recall - that serves as a regulator - but it's been so long since I designed it all that I have forgotten now. It's all scratched down on some paper somewhere in my basement but I have not worked on the layout in years. I would like to finish it someday. That power transistor needed a heat sink because it would get pretty toasty - I made my own heat sink from some spare copper plumbing parts.