O Scale 3-Rail Track Wiring question


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Daragoth

New Member
I am in the midst of brainstorming and I wanted to ask if anyone has ideas or has done the following idea that I've been pondering over.

The idea: Signals are setup at switches that when thrown against a on-coming train would cause the train to slow down, stop but remain at a idle voltage to prevent the shutdown sequence many modern day locomotives have tied to their sound, smoke and decoder. The slowdown process of the locomotive is tied to the signal itself, and the power to the track being reduced in voltage is wired in a way that a bread board with soldered on capacitors cause the voltage to drop over a short period of time. The duration of the drop would somehow be programmed via a Raspberry Pi mini-computer board. This same board would also be programmed to maintain the minimum amount of voltage needed to prevent the shutdown sequence from starting for said locomotive(s).

Outcome: The outcome from this idea is a realistic or prototypical visual representation of a locomotive slowing down and stopping when coming to a switch lined against it (either while on the main, on a siding, or even in the yard).


Thoughts: I recognize this might not be possible at all, or if it is that it's a lot of work but I enjoy a good challenge if no one else has ideas on this process. While yes there are other options when it comes to switches and O scale 3-rail (such as Non-derailing Switches, or just having the locomotive come to a sudden and abrupt stop), but my goal for my layout is to make it more of a realistic visual for friends and family to enjoy. So locomotive operation is part of that layout end goal.

Any thoughts, advise, or solutions are welcome.

Thanks! :)
 
I worked with a braking system in G scale, offered to make it appear more realistic. The back and forth was 22 ft long and there just wasn't the travel time to do that.
Analog trains are AC and have 5 volts on the track . They just do go slow enough for something to be realistic. The best you can do is kill power to stop it. Or just run a block with a second transformer at a lower speed when approaching any switches. then have the kill track stop it. Since the trains are heavy you will need two sections of track to stop.
The classic is having two trains run on one track and have an isolated section shut off a track behind it to prevent the second train from catching the first.
 
To continue, two track pieces to stop. How many to slow down? Four? Once the engine is in that block it will slow to set speed.
This means that you need 6 pieces of track before each switch. The table is getting larger and larger.

O gage trains on three rail was for kids and not a scale thing as it is today. To have good results you are better off going to a smaller scale. Then you have computer controlled DCC.
 
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Dub said:
To continue, two track pieces to stop. How many to slow down? Four? Once the engine is in that block it will slow to set speed.
This means that you need 6 pieces of track before each switch. The table is getting larger and larger.

O gage trains on three rail was for kids and not a scale thing as it is today. To have good results you are better off going to a smaller scale. Then you have computer controlled DCC.
Click to expand...
I am too far in to change scales. Lol
Would this idea be possible with O scale TMCC?
 
You would have a better chance. The motors are DC and have slower speeds. The whole point is to have hand held control of multiple engines.
You can visit Lionel and view their TMCC info pages. No it is not worth coverting older AC engines to TMCC.
I am sure you can succeed but that level of control would be lost when actually done and would be hardly noticeable.
 
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