I have a demo video at the very bottom of my post of when I was figuring out this entire thing before I took it to the main layout.
Some facts about the alternate train control at the main layout.
It's...
- Conventional
- Two loops and each loop runs one direction only and never intersect.
- Multiple trains in one loop, but only one at a time
- GarGrave Track, Ross Custom Switches, Z-Stuff switch machines and relays are used
- Steam engines of medium and large size old to newer and is locked to forward position
- 5 car passenger cars attached to it
- Power districts of 10, 12, 14, 16 V are used throughout the layout
- Inside the sidings we have put appropriate power districts to slow the train down correctly to their block where it stops
- When arriving the train is moving at a moderate speed through the switch
- My work has been soldered already (I only realized it instantly deployed when the first derail at the layout occurred.)
- Its automated because its a large room for families and kids to enjoy.
A little more facts..
- The blocks to trigger the relays for the next train to depart are at the arriving switches
- In the video there are 3 blocks that will trigger the two relays to deploy a train
- Moving these blocks further down the line are kinda an option except
- On the main layout I don't have enough track in the yard to do this. I would need double the length of the passenger car to properly deploy it this way
- I tried to make the triggering blocks right before the block where it parks and stops at. This made the relays fight and couldn't negotiate which siding was going to be active. That method didn't work
- We don't want to shorten the passenger cars because it looks a little odd
- We also don't want to make it go faster through the switches from what its at already, but it'll work if I make it go max speed with all the cars attached
Here is a video of it in action on my sample when I was given the task to figure this out. It works, but I need the setup to delay the deploying train a few seconds to allow the full train with cars to arrive then the other train can depart whenever.
I concluded to get this to work with a 5 passenger car train I need to delay the signal from the triggering block to the relay some how either with a device or a device that can delay the block that deploys the train (maybe this is the time delay relay). I'm just not sure how timed relays work exactly and if its applicable to my situation.
Thanks for taking your time to read this!
