Started filling in the Switch Machine Controllers page.  Not much to be said there until I start prototyping that particular circuitry.

I’ve added some supporting graphics to the Throttles page, and have written up most of the Block Switching page.

Pretty soon I’ll start adding the pages which describe in more detail the design of each part of the project.  I’ll put links directly to them at the tops of the existing pages so readers who want to jump straight to the how-to pages can do so easily.

This past week I realized there’s another useful subproject which, although not needed by this project, will eventually become very useful.  That is a Track Speedometer, using a pair of the same sensors I’m using to detect the positions of the trains, but measuring the time between two sensors a known distance apart to calculate and display the train’s speed and direction, in real units (mm/sec) and scale units (km/hr).  More on that later.

I’ve posted some background information on my planned Arduino-based train throttles.  I haven’t started working on that portion of the hardware yet, but I expect it will be straightforward enough.  First though, I need to solder into place the header strips that came with the two Motor Shields….

I’ve added a description of the track sensor network along with a diagram and a picture.

I’ve added photos of the infrared sensors I’m using to detect passage of the trams running on the tracks.

I’ve added a Track Sensors page, text only for the moment.  I’ll add some pictures and artwork soon.

I’ve added a first draft of the track plan for this project, in the last section of the Overview page.  The track plan was drawn with the AnyRail model railroad design software.

Moved most of my (way too long) original post to a separate About me page, and added a link to it on the right sidebar.

I’m also adding links to the separate sections of the project pages in the left sidebar.  You can see them by clicking on the down-arrow on the menu items.

TWR

I’ve added some photos of my N-gauge PORTRAMs to the Overview page.

Hi, my name is Thomas Rackers, and I’m currently a member of the Japan Rail Modelers of Washington DC (www.japanrailmodelers.org), a group of model railroaders which specializes in models of Japanese trains, scenery, and the occasional Godzilla (ゴジラ, or we just call him Goji).

I’ve put this blog together to document the model railroad project I’ve begun, after decades of just thinking about building something and not really accomplishing anything tangible.  The focus here is the design, construction, and testing of an assortment of  features based upon currently available microcontrollers.  All information here should be considered open source and free for anyone to use and adapt to their purposes.  Most of the microcontroller code driving the various subprojects will be available for download from my GitHub repository, once I finish getting that set up.

For more information (maybe too much) about my background, motivation, and the overall concept I’m working with, you can click on the About me link to the right.

This is my first foray into the universe of blogs and such, so please bear with me as I work up the learning curve here.

TWR