About Breitefurt station
Located on a fairly busy mainline, 'Breitefurt' station is situated on the edge of what is now a medium sized satellite town. The station serves both long distance traffic and as the terminus for commuter services. A small branch line also terminates here though a few through trains carry commuters direct to and from the 'metropolis' during the morning and evening rush. It is the use as a terminus and junction that has led to the fairly complex pointwork at the west end of the station and is the justification for the small locomotive refueling and refurbishing yard. Primarily a passenger facility, occasional goods are handled using one of the sidings at the west end. The two remaining sidings are used variously to store excess rolling stock and to act as temporary home to a travelling railway museum with replicas of some early German trains.
There is a proposal for a (mainly freight) branch to feed off to the west and this will, if it comes to fruition, increase the diversity of trains passing through the station.
The model does not represent any particular area or era and anachronisms will abound, though the trains themselves will nearly all be steam hauled. It will be operations based with the scenic aspect being secondary (due to my lack of modelling skills).
Latest Progress
(Click on thumbnails to open larger images.)
June 21st – Happy mid-summer's day. I decided to start from scratch with the final set of station controls, namely the station entry control for down (outer circle) trains. I learned a lot from the up entry which has made it a lot easier. Also, I decided to draw two separate diagrams: one for routing (left) and one for motive power distribution (right). The result is that I was able to work out the circuits and do the drawings in a few hours instead of days. The result should make it easier for others to understand what I have done.
Finally, I have updated the track-plan above to correct a few minor discrepancies.
June 20th – Well, I feel that I have actually realised a milestone today — the remote control of the entry to the down end of the station is complete and tested. It's not quite how I had intended it as the current is still fed forward from the up main rather than being fed back from the receiving track, but functionally it is all working as specified. So, to receive a train into, say, Gleis 3, the user applies power to the up main at the exit from the hidden sidings and to Gleis 3. Then the appropriate route selection button is pressed, setting up the route into the station and applying power to the appropriate track sections. As soon as the trains enters Gleis 3, the current is cut off to the entry tracks (leaving the route still set up) and we are then ready for the next train. The circuit, for what it is worth, is shown above.
NB. All this requires a DC supply – the whole exercise would be far more difficult using AC, Hence I am using Märklin's 67020 small controllers with the 67030 transformer that plugs straight into the (UK 230Vac) mains. These give an unsmoothed 12V dc, quite adequate for points and relays (and signals) even with a diode in series. (Note: the 67011 controller could be used with a bridge rectifier.)
June 12th – Grief, it's been nearly a month since my last update. So, what's been happening in that time. Well, mostly I have been thinking about circuitry and how to improve on my crude semi-automation of the trains. This can be broken down into two main areas: a) the control of power circuits for brining trains into the station and b) the same for trains leaving the station. The new design method requires that track power be fed primarily to the destination and then, via diodes, to the entry or exit route. The obvious way forward was to work out then principle on the simple down (left hand) end of the station.
I decided to start with the down exit logic as this would be easiest being just two converging tracks. The original wiring (see February 28th below) had the traction current supply feeding forward from the platform tracks. In the new configuration (above left) the supply goes to the exit (the entry to the hidden sidings) though the actual wiring is almost identical but with blocking diodes added. Thus the user powers the end point of the route and selects the appropriate signal which than powers the whole route back to the station. The process of selecting a signal also sets the one turnout involved to the correct route. So far so good - it all works.
The next stage is to look at the entrance to the down (left) end of the station. Originally an approaching train cleared the up block signal which, in turn, supplied power to all routes in the station throat. The signal would be set back to danger as the locomotive crossed one of three detection tracks. However, this did not work properly for trains entering Gleis 4 as I wanted the power to come from the platform tracks (Gleis 1-4). I wanted to be able to apply power from one of two controllers and then, via a push button, set the route and apply power. As before, the route would be cancelled when the train entered the station. So the first change involved abandoning the existing detector track leading to Gleis 4 and insert one to the right of the uncoupler (above right). Thus the route would be cleared ready for the next train.
So, yesterday I put the additional detector tracks in place. However, I have to wait now for some Märklin relays so that I can finish the job. But, please note that both diagrams are still in draft and may need to be edited.
May 16th – After a fallow period in which I concentrated on practicing the French horn for two concerts, I have turned back to the layout again. At Elgin I had a few niggles with the automatic train control (and one dead section due to a loose wire) so decided to redesign the wiring for the down exit from the station. The new design requires power to be supplied only to the down main exit track, where it leaves the scenic part of the layout, and leave it to the signals to supply power to the other track sections. Also, I decided to have the Gleis 2 starter control the turnout so that the train leaves by the correct track. There is no interlocking between the two starters so the operator can accidentally pull off both signals and cause a crash! (Yes, I know it would be pretty easy to arrange interlocking but I have other things to worry about.) The two images show the related wiring diagram (if it makes any sense to you) and the track plan . I also plan to amend the exit routing at the up end of the station along the same lines with the signals on Gleis 3 and 4 setting the double slip as I am constantly forgetting to set it (and reset it) correctly.
Apr 8th –
Finally ready for Elgin (well, almost!) but what a hassle I had.
I was having a few minor problems with the up end exit signal routing logic so decided to change the design concept so that the up main was the only track that needed to be selected for a power feed. Guess who had forgotten that the detector on the up main was short circuit. So set about removing one of the detectors in the station throat to replace it but managed to damage it so it was permanent open circuit. :o(
So, removed the second detector in the up exit throat and fitted it. Then had to replace all the ripped out track with none to spare. (Click on first image above.) Having done that, I had to redesign the logic circuits and replace the old wiring with new. (See second image above.) Two days later and all four exit routes are up and running except for one minor glitch on Gleis 3 where the loco can over-run a signal at danger fouling the double slip.
Apart from that I am finally ready for Elgin. I'll update my webpage later today (hopefully). No photos at the moment. I will do them at and after Elgin.
Archive material with more photos.
June 21st – Happy mid-summer's day. I decided to start from scratch with the final set of station controls, namely the station entry control for down (outer circle) trains. I learned a lot from the up entry which has made it a lot easier. Also, I decided to draw two separate diagrams: one for routing (left) and one for motive power distribution (right). The result is that I was able to work out the circuits and do the drawings in a few hours instead of days. The result should make it easier for others to understand what I have done.
June 20th – Well, I feel that I have actually realised a milestone today — the remote control of the entry to the down end of the station is complete and tested. It's not quite how I had intended it as the current is still fed forward from the up main rather than being fed back from the receiving track, but functionally it is all working as specified. So, to receive a train into, say, Gleis 3, the user applies power to the up main at the exit from the hidden sidings and to Gleis 3. Then the appropriate route selection button is pressed, setting up the route into the station and applying power to the appropriate track sections. As soon as the trains enters Gleis 3, the current is cut off to the entry tracks (leaving the route still set up) and we are then ready for the next train. The circuit, for what it is worth, is shown above.
June 12th – Grief, it's been nearly a month since my last update. So, what's been happening in that time. Well, mostly I have been thinking about circuitry and how to improve on my crude semi-automation of the trains. This can be broken down into two main areas: a) the control of power circuits for brining trains into the station and b) the same for trains leaving the station. The new design method requires that track power be fed primarily to the destination and then, via diodes, to the entry or exit route. The obvious way forward was to work out then principle on the simple down (left hand) end of the station.
May 16th – After a fallow period in which I concentrated on practicing the French horn for two concerts, I have turned back to the layout again. At Elgin I had a few niggles with the automatic train control (and one dead section due to a loose wire) so decided to redesign the wiring for the down exit from the station. The new design requires power to be supplied only to the down main exit track, where it leaves the scenic part of the layout, and leave it to the signals to supply power to the other track sections. Also, I decided to have the Gleis 2 starter control the turnout so that the train leaves by the correct track. There is no interlocking between the two starters so the operator can accidentally pull off both signals and cause a crash! (Yes, I know it would be pretty easy to arrange interlocking but I have other things to worry about.) The two images show the related wiring diagram (if it makes any sense to you) and the track plan . I also plan to amend the exit routing at the up end of the station along the same lines with the signals on Gleis 3 and 4 setting the double slip as I am constantly forgetting to set it (and reset it) correctly.
Apr 8th –
Finally ready for Elgin (well, almost!) but what a hassle I had.