Well today I manufactured a all new control consol.
My original looked poorly done, it was a silver brief case with all the switches set into the top lid and screwed to the end of the layout, it just looked too weird?
Here are some pics of the new one.
Side view, it is well braced with a floating look to it, this is so I can pull up a stool and have my legs under the control panel.
Here I just had one track hooked up at the time the photo was taken, I’d finish the day with 5 lights and two track power packs installed, but both tracks are running nice and clean and I even spent some time racing two F7s , I love this hobby!!!.
The box at the top center is a sound switch panel that switches between train sound effects for both diesel and steam, nature sounds (such as water falls, rain, wind, storm, lightning strikes and thunder), and the 3rd switch activates my favorite music Cds, or I can play them over lapped, I like listening to the steam trains chugging by while the river rapids are heard in the back ground, I can close my eyes and I feel like I’m outside.
I did hinge the top for easy access to the wiring, and the connectors have all been tagged.
I did get 5 lights up and running, 3 red warning lights on the quarry tower and The diner and the lamp post in the diners parking lot are now lit with a flip of a switch.
That looks great! I like the end were the sf f7 was doing a 100mph. I didn’t know anyone made a loco that could go that fast, and I love the layout to.[;)] [tup]
Well thanks for not booing my attempts my friends, I hate getting kicked out of the show for poor craftsmenship,[(-D]
Kevin, since I had a room full of sound equipment left over from my touring days I hooked up three different Cd players all connected to an infared remote, all I have to do is select the track I want to hear and que it up than hit the switch to those speakers and I have my sound FX coming out from under the layout, I can have all 3 running and cut the sound out that I do not want to hear or play combinations of sounds in layers, you could say it is probably the most exspensive sound system ever used on an HO layout, I have about $13,000 in my sound system, at least I’m putting it all back to use.
BNSF, I see that you like to model in the other SF line…cool!!!, Yup, I wish my F7 could go that fast, I used some trick setting on my camera for that one.
Chuck, My wife don’t mind my layout in the new addition so long as it is painted the same colors as the rest of the room, so the panel will be tan like the base and the lower half walls in the room with some white trim, it does give the effect that the layout was made as part of the room and not just dropped in the middle of it when the room was done.
Ahhhh, another day off and I shall be working on connecting more lights to the main power grid!!!
Thanks for the info on your sound system. I’d say $13,000 is the most anyone has spent on sound for their layout. Good that you could resurrect equipment that may have been collecting dust and use it on the layout. Keep up the good work! [:)]
You look like you have a lot of railroad in a small space, it’s a real nice thing to see for people like me who are doing the same thing. Like the layout, especially the crossing gate. I get a kick out of detailing detailing like that.
Great work so far - can’t wait to see more pics of “nighttime” lighting!! Off topic, did you ever hear of/work with a group called “Silver Bird”? Heard them many years ago in the Catskills - great sound!! At the end of their show they would ask the audience what ethnic group they though they were. Guesses included various Asian nationalities and Hispanic - no one guessed they were Native Americans!! I still have a vinyl I bought at the end of the show - wish it were a DVD!!! (too long ago for that!!) Back on subject - keep up the good work!! [tup][tup][:)]
Yesterday was indeed a day to test my patients thats for sure.
I had so many wires to deal with that I thought back to the days of the rubics cube, you know that aggrivating cube with all the different colored squares on it that had to be matched up, I used too peel them off and stick them back on in order, my wiring job was a lot like that, had to take 30 steps to get one thing right.
The job is now done and behing me, lets hope everyone here is right and I don’t have to mess with the wiring for many years to come.
I eagerly awaited the night fall to turn on my towns lights and boy was that an exciting moment, my wife was present for the first full lighting and she was impressed, she did ask why the layout was so big and I explained that a 4’X8’ was the smallest I could do in HO if I wanted to have loops, oh well, she is the one who said go for it…LOL!
I did have one slight problem, I purchased two Bachmann old fashioned “gas” street lamps and one melted the top off it, the white globe was intirerly sealed and when the heat from the bulb built up I had a melt down, now I know this is not normal but it leaves me wondering how many people have watched these lamps have a melt down, no wonder they were marked down at my local Hobby Shop.
I’m off to work to hopefully save lives and I know this will be easier than wiring my layout.
Looks good, Red… I forgot how complex block wiring can be…
Here’s the extent of my control panel…
I’ve got a couple of local panels that run turnouts at the interlockings, but otherwise it’s all in the hand-held. Of all the advantages of DCC that I enjoy, the minimalist wiring has to be my favorite.
If I ever rebuild, I’ll put decoders on the turnout machines, too, then the whole shebang will run from the hand-held.
The switch panel is out of an old ambulance that I had removed the intire interior from, I was given the switch panel, and the dual battery system for my van for doing the job, I knew someday that switch panel would come in handy!!!
I did have to replace 2 of the switches due to them not working properly, but it was a good deal on my end, one afternoons worth of work for some unusual items for my layout.
All the talk of wiring tedium might cause some to opt for wind-up trains!
I was thinking of using a spare peg board section(approx. 2’x2’)as a temporary base, running the different purpose wires through different sections. Nice work up there Red.
BNSF kid, your post here was very readable. Where, not were and 100mph, not “a 100mph”. Keep working on it. English is still English in all 20 states that I’ve visited.
