MR's Operating Signals by Steven Barkley, How do-able is it and how many of you are doing it and how?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Talk about coincidental but I was on the phone with a friend just the other day talking about Semaphores, who by the way knows Mr. Barkley and was telling me to look for the article.

Anyway I’ve already started to amass a number of Tomar Semaphores and the question is:

“What are your experiences with semaphore systems? The pluses, the minus’s and how are you operating the system?”

I just want to know what I’m getting myself into[%-)]

Thanks in advance

Fergie

2

We use operating semaphores as train order signals on the Operations Road Show layout, though we “rolled our own” when we built them nearly ten years ago.

Technical details on how we built them and integrated them into our DCC system can be found at http://www.railsonwheels.com/ors/trainordersignals.shtml

Since we’re using them as train order signals, we don’t use any kind of detection or automated activation-the dispatcher/operator throws a toggle switch back at the dispatcher’s desk to activate them remotely.

Mechanically, they’ve been rock-solid reliable. Our way of motorizing them is not too different from how Tomar powers theirs. The only changes I foresee are that at some point we’ll probably buy Tomar’s semaphore blades to improve the signals’ appearance by replacing the hand-cut brass blades we’re using, and we’ll probably add ladders.

3

Thank you for the link and the excellent article! Nicely done and should make my installation process “easier”.

Fergie

4

Check on Hans DeLoof’s web site for his servo controller, which is a DCC accessory decoder that drives RC servos instead of simpler Tortoise machines. The advantage is you can program a servo to do things like ‘blade bounce’ when the semaphore drops down, whereas with a Tortoise you are limited to having your three positions. The type of servo used is actually less expensive than a Tortoise, so the only downside is that the driver circuit is a bit more complex and expensive.

Once you have the semaphore controlled with a DCC decoder, you can do whatever you want with block detection and software, eithe free JMRI or RR&CO or others.

–Randy