All,
Thanks so much for jumping in here. I had never used a fast clock, so I turned to the forum for help. The text below is from an email that I received today. It looks like the originator (Jim) found something to his liking. There was definitely good source information exchanged here in these forum posts.
Hey Bob, (Me)
Thanks for you assistance and effort. I got this from my friend yesterday. Looks like he figured his solution. I forwarded him the websites you sent anyway because he'll probably find them interesting. Thanks again.
Bob (my friend)
Hi Bob, (my friend)
I think I found a solution. I did some more reading (for Christmas I got a DVD set of every issue of Model Railroader magazine ever, from 1935 through 2009), and I found a more current article. I looks like it is relatively easy to take a battery operated quartz movement, and remove the crystal oscillator, and then replace it with a 555 timer arranged to send out signals at the desired rate. Ironically, I already have a bunch of the almost exact circuit in use as blinkers for LED's in crossing signals, warning lights, etc. I just need to change the resistors and capacitors to raise the rate. If it works, I'll let you know...you can pass it along to your model railroading friend.
On an amusing separate note, it's funny reading the really old issues of the magazine and seeing the different mindset back then. One phrase from an issue in the 40's was great. It said "just use whatever wire you have left over from the last armature you rewound"
Jim
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