I’m a newbie to hobby, and this forum. [:D] I would like to build a simple control panel, or at least that’s what I believe they are called, to provide basic on/off control to light accessories (i.e. Lionel #70 Yard Lights) or other street lights and simple accessories that I plan to hook-up to my Lionel CW-80 power supply that came with my Santa Fe Freight starter set with fasttrack. Does anyone know where I can find more information on how to build and wire a control panel up? I’ve tried searching everywhere – I find lots of pictures but nothing on how to go about building one.
[#welcome] to the CTT forum Brett ! You may try your local Hobby Shop for books on wiring a Lionel layout. Someone just mentioned that book the other day, & maybe that was the name of it. Maybe you can do a search here for some info. Hope this helps, John
Try the public library, they usually have a pretty good selection of publications dealing with model railroading, I know my card is gettin worn out…good luck…tom.
Brett
I’m sure CTT won’t mind me mentioning that Jim Barrett of O-Gauge magazine did a DVD–“Barrett in the Backshop, Volume 10” on how to build a control panel.
If you want to start with a simple panel, 1/8" masonite makes a good base for mounting panel meters,toggle and pushbutton switches to operate track turnouts, lights, motorized accessories,etc. The first one I ever built was 1/8" pegboard—the predrilled holes are perfect for mounting minature toggles,etc. I covered it with white self-sticking vinyl shelf liner and used narrow auto pin striping to lay out the track schematic as well as turnout , accessory and structure locations.
You can put terminal strips on the backside to receive,sort out and distribute power to the various accessory sites.
See if you can find a copy of Wiring for Toy Trains by Peter Riddle. He has a section on control panels. You can probably find it in a hobby shop or order it online from Trains.com since it’s published by Kalmbach.
CTT has a great downloadable series of articles on transformers and wiring that has a section on building a control panel by Peter Riddle. It’s very well illustrated and It is available for a reasonable fee. It’s a PDF file so you can be reading it tonight.
Brett,
The dvd referred to above has some good basic ideas. I have done 3 different ones and still want to change, I would make it the last item. Consider having an emergency disconnect somewhere, (Even it it is only a rocker or toggle switch.)
Brett,
I would suggest the wiring for toy train layout book mentioned by Dr. John. One simple method is to use peg-board. They use this with switches and it makes it real easy to expand, or to work on. Get the book and you will also learn how to build your layout wiring right the first time. From your post, I think you are new to all of this and you don’t need to have a huge or elaborate control panel, but you also want to learn and grow with your hobby.
Dennis
Except for a small panel to mount my railpower volt and amp meters, I removed my control panel 4-5 years ago and have my Ross and Curtis track turnouts controlled from Cab 1 via 6 hard-wired ACS modules/relays.
I use DC Tortoise “stall” motors on my turnouts with diodes wired inline to enable an AC power supply to the modules and motors. I basically determine the “throw” position of my turnouts—to the mainline or siding, by observing the position of the switchstand lights mounted on the turnout. You can also wire a panel with LEDs on a track schematic which will indicate the turnout position[see Barretts DVD #10] which solves the problem of viewing switchstand lights hidden by structures or scenery.
Nevertheless I plan to return to using an “old fashioned” control panel with toggle switch control of my turnouts. When you lay out a track schematic on the panel with striping, where the “fork” or wye represents the legs of a turnout; you can install a toggle in the fork and, simply put, the toggle handle itself will indicate at a glance which way the turnout is thrown—to “thru” on the mainline or “out” on the siding leg. With stall motors such as the Tortoise you can use simple SPST on/off toggles although I prefer to use cross-wired DPST switches. With other non-stall or snap switch motors you can use center-off toggles.
I like the walk-around train operating capability that Command Control[TMCC or DCS] enables but invariably I find myself migrating back to the panel area although in my case [currently], the only information provided at the panel area is on the panel meters or by the indicator lights, breakers and fuse blocks for the PoHos, TPCs and PowerGards.
p.s:
I have all of Peter Riddle’s books which collectively are excellent for “newbies” and old farts alike, but I still recommend Jim Barrett’s DVD for those interested in erecting a full-boogie control panel.
An interesting way to control track switches on a control panel is to put a terminal, like a screw head, on each fork of the map, connected to the appropriate switch coil. Then use a grounded probe (like those that come with volt-ohm-milliameters) to touch the terminal to throw the switch, instead of using an electrical switch or controller.
I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome and advice. I’m planning on picking up the DVD and book as recommended. I will post a later with the progress on the project.
I let the experts answer your question helpfully first!
Control panel design can almost become a hobby in itself, for some folks (like me) its almost an art form. I think this is some kind of 50’s hangover from too much bad sci-fi, where the mad scientist had a vast control panel full of meters, lights and the odd gratuitous thermionic tube flickering in a sinister manner.
Seriously though, everybody else told you what you needed to know, I’m just tossing in my two cents worth more from an aesthetic point of view.
I build mine - I’ve built several - like a cabinet or foot locker, with a hinged top so its easy to get at the wiring and I also designed a modular system like tiles (using pegboard) that were track symbols, straights, curves, turnouts so the track plan could be changed without heartbreak and so switches, lightbulbs/LED’s could be installed or removed easily. I mounted my controllers on the front edge (panel mount pulse control with a simple knob) and kept the transformers remotely on the concrete garage floor to help keep them cool as transformers lose efficiency if they get too hot.
With a semi-permanent layout (is there such a thing as a permanent one?!) its a good idea to plan it all out logically and use seperate buses (circuits) for switch motors, lighting, operating accessories and track feeds. If at all possible, run this wiring loosely wrapped with zip ties or tape, suspended from hooks underneath, with either multi-pin plugs and sockets or terminal blocks so your main loom can be broken down for inspection/maintenance/overhaul without too much crawling around on hands and knees.
Figure out a logical color code system and stick to it religiously, it makes fault finding a lot easier. Back in the day running 12v DC I snagged a whole lot of telephone company wire as they have a great product sheathed in grey plastic with dozens of different colors but it may not be man enough for O gauge current draw but I still get that wire f
Mike is right to be apprehensive about telephone wire for toy trains. The wire should be heavy enough to carry safely the maximum current that the transformer can put out. Use at least 14AWG for a transformer with a 15-ampere circuit breaker, 16AWG for 10 amperes.
Buy the peter Riddle books as recommended above, before you start. I found the switches on ebay, just single pole, but I liked the red with long handles.
Each switch controls a section of track. or lights, accessories. Power is by a ZW a VW and 2 MRC powerpacks with 12 & 18 v fixed voltages. The top lifts up like a trunk lid to do the wiring underneath.
My layout is hooked up to run TMCC mostly , but I have a lot of conventional I run by turning the transformer handles… What a concept … Hope this helps…Tim
After posting this I had to DE BUG the second picture. Pesky stink bugs!!!
Brett, one last word - whatever you do as far as your control panel, draw a wiring schematic that YOU can understand as you go. Then label your wires with tape and numbers, letters, or names of accessories. This will make trouble shooting much easier down the road. Try to keep your wiring neat by grouping wires into bundles wherever possible.
I speak from bad experience dealing with a mess of “spaghetti” under previous layouts!
Thanks again for all of the input. I plan to just make a very small switch board, that way I can experiment and learn as I go. I like the idea of having it hinged - I agree, that will make it a lot easier to get at the connections underneath. I was thinking of wiring the switchs ( to a terminal block and then make my connections form the terminal block to the lights and accessories. That way, if I want to wire new light/accessories to an existing switch all I would have to do is unscrew the old accessory and screw on the new accessory.