I’ll post videos here of my layout. You can watch a small image on the page, or there is an option to switch to a full screen view.
14 Feb 2021: The first video is a quick compilation of some shots of my layout in operation. While these videos were being taken, the layout was operating in full automatic mode. The audio is coming from my layout (birds, dogs barking, sheep bleating, cows mooing, crossing ding-dong sounds etc.). No-one was involved in operating the layout in any way. All train movements were being controlled by the PC connected to the layout, and coupling / uncoupling of goods wagons was automatic as well.
15 Feb 2021: This next one is a screen recording with audio capture of the PC while it is controlling the layout. No trains to see, this one is just the layout from the PC’s point of view.
Red sections of track show the section is occupied by a train. Yellow dots on the tracks show where a loco (or sometimes a wagon) has passed over a sensor to detect an exact location.
Each train has it’s own group of automatic operations, and if one of these goes to a green background, the train is performing that function.
In the lower right corner of the panel, items with a yellow background are On / Off outputs that are turned On by the PC (several lights are on during operation, but if you watch the “Tourist Crossing Flashers” output you will see the PC turning the crossing warning lights and ding-dong sound on and off.
I can also turn off automatic operation of the layout, and use the control panel shown above to operate the layout in a semi-automatic mode. Each of the train functions is also a button and I can click it to make the train perform that function. Of course I can also operate everything entirely manually if I want as well.
24 Feb 2021: Another 2 videos. This first one is an overhead close up of the coupler system in use. A train reverses in to the top line with a full load, and stops automatically with the couplers over a group of magnets. This allows the couplers to part, and when the train moves off again, the wagons unhitch. The loco then moves to the bottom line and unhitches the remaining wagons. The now empty loco moves back to the top line, and collects what were the rear set of wagons, moves off, then collects the remaining wagons from the bottom line. The result is that the 2 sets of wagons are now swapped on the train. (NOTE: The video has been trimmed to omit sections where nothing was happening on screen.)
And the second one is a time lapse of some of the action – just for fun.
02 March 2021: 3 new videos today, all recorded with the WiFi camera I have built into a wagon.
First one is a small loco travelling from the farm, it reverses into the Goods Loading area to get supplies from the store, then it travels back to the farm.
Next one is a quick shot from the rear of a tourist passenger train, as it makes a loop from the station and back.
And finally, just to show that not everything goes according to plans…
But it’s OK, nothing broken…