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Thanks for the feedback.
Understanding:
Actually, IMHO, to just UNDERSTAND how this 3-train system works, you do NOT really need to know ANY electronics.
- Just visualize Loco A (the 1st loco) running Eastbound until it crosses the detector, then continuing for 20 seconds further, and then stopping.
- Then visualize Loco B running Eastbound until it crosses the detector, then continuing for 15 seconds further, and then stopping.
- Then visualize Loco C running Eastbound until it crosses the detector, then continuing for 10 seconds further, and then stopping.
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Westbound: Next, they just do the same thing all over, but going in the opposite direction.
Said Another Way: You can just use TIME delay -- beginning your time delay from the moment a loco activates (crosses) the detector, to stop the loco wherever you want it to stop.
Setting Up This Operation:
To actually DO this operation, one needs to know just a little more:
- How to hook up a Z-Stuff detector (or similar),
- How to connect the detector to the DCC programmable train controller (hook up 2 wires)
- How to program the controller.
But its not "rocket science"; probably no more difficult than learning how to use the DCS or Legacy systems.
(I don't know electronics either. I just follow the Z-Stuff wiring diagram,
and then hook the 2 relay output wires to the Mini-Panel. The rest is handled by the programming.)
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ANALOG VERSION:
You could do a similar operation for 3 DC trains.
You would probably want 3 blocks at each end (6 blocks total), then use an Arduino or Raspberry Pi or Picaxe or some sort of programmable controller -- and use that controller to turn the appropriate blocks ON and OFF and control the track polarity, to shuttle the 3 trains back and forth.
You wouldn't need any detector, because the BLOCKS would stop the trains at the correct location.