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Lineside Signals for the B-and-M Eastern Route

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  • #76
    Tonight I checked several on-line model RR vendors for bi-color 3mm LEDs suitable for use with the Oregon Rail Supply

    searchlight heads I've been using. Alas, I only found 4 of ORS' own #126 red/green LEDs in stock anywhere, and they're

    $5 for two. Circuitron's red/green LEDs are $3.95 each.

    Can anyone point me at a manufacturer part # with red & green dies (the light emitting bits) set close enough to make

    a decent 'yellow'? Unlike the Ligitek 2062s I showed on 27-Feb-16?

    Or has anyone like the results with a less expensive part, like those here:www.led-switch.com ? I have to order a few blue

    LEDs for dummy masts (I'll explain that when parts are on hand to build the two 'bracket arms' I need), so it would only

    be another $1.50 to try 10 of them. Life is short...
    James

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    • #77
      The holidays, houseguests and travel left some room for progress on my signals. I completed the design for the last two interlockings and completed one:



      Here's Saugus Jct. installed, with three of its four signals wired and operational. The easterly half of the crossover is Chipman St., still on the workbench being wired. Once it's in, four more mast signals remain to be built.
      James

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      • #78
        Yesterday I finished installing the Chipman St. interlocking and connecting it to two of the three signals it drives. That was the last, so my signal project has reached another milestone.



        The Saugus Jct. end of this diagram is different from the picture above; I didn't read my own documentation and so I had to invert the sense of relay R5T1. All I'd been able to get off Bexley Tower's antique key switches was a 'break' when the turnout was reversed. Because of the number of diodes involved, it was easier to shift two functions one contact set left.



        Here's what I really hope will be the final Bexley (Tunnel West, Bexley Enginehouse and D'Arcy Ave.) drawing, with wire colors, correct labels and a few obsolete ideas cleaned up.

        Next I'll use parts on-hand to build the two 3-light home signals that will finish Saugus Jct. and Chipman St. I still don't have the brass bits for the 'bracket arms' required to finish West Lynn and River Works.
        James

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        • #79
          James,

          Really looking good. Your documentation and schematics will serve you well for years to come. Quite a project! Congratulations.

          Jim
          Take the red pill

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          • #80
            quote:

            Originally posted by BurleyJim

            James,

            Really looking good. Your documentation and schematics will serve you well for years to come. Quite a project! Congratulations.

            Jim

            Amen! Looking forward to seing the results!

            Pete

            in Michigan

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            • #81
              Thanks, Jim & Pete. If you expect to be on the north side of Boston with time on your hands, let me know.
              James

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              • #82
                quote:

                Originally posted by jbvb

                Thanks, Jim & Pete. If you expect to be on the north side of Boston with time on your hands, let me know.

                Be careful what you wish for!

                And thanks!

                Pete

                in Michigan

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                • #83
                  Last night I got to thinking about implementing these interlockings. Chipman St. (below) is the most complicated I've built, and it's a bit of a mess, mostly because of all the diodes I needed to logically OR multiple inputs to each signal driver's RED terminal.



                  The auxiliary terminals left of the top SD-3s are crowded, so are some of the main terminals and the relays' screw terminals.



                  I count 24 diodes in this interlocking. I drew them in a matrix, and it would have been much neater to wire it like diode matrices for yard throat control. But I'd had trouble with a matrix I built from perfboard and bare wires, so I wired this directly.

                  Question: has anyone found a commercial circuit board (probably for prototyping) that's a good base for building a matrix? Copper leads going one way on one side, perpendicular on the other, lead and hole spacing allowing diode installation somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2" apart?
                  James

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                  • #84
                    More progress the past few days:



                    The eastward home signal for Saugus Jct. with soldering complete. Red/Green bipolar LED for the High head, fixed Red Middle head, Red/Yellow bipolar LED to provide Restricted call-on into the Bexley industrial area. Finished it this afternoon (photo in B&M Eastern Route thread), three more to go.
                    James

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                    • #85
                      All I can say is WOW nice work!

                      Rich

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                      • #86
                        Impressive!* :up: [^]


                        Ted

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                        • #87
                          Belated thanks, Rich and Ted. My signal system has been almost complete for a year now (except for two bracket-arm masts I haven't gotten around to scratchbuilding). It's operated reliably; the only glitches were a couple of cases where a fine 'pole line' wire wasn't being well-gripped by my bargain euro-style terminal strips. When I do a 'DC Day' and run my older equipment, I do find myself wishing I'd used only DCOD detectors, but the places where I did operate just as I wish.
                          James

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                          • #88
                            James,

                            I just reread this thread, and am really impressed with what you've accomplished. It's super!

                            Did you ever run that section of rail between Bexley and the Bexley Engine house?

                            Jim
                            Take the red pill

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                            • #89
                              Very impressive indeed.

                              ed

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                              • #90
                                Thanks, ed and Jim. Jim, I'm not sure what you mean - Bexley Depot and Engine House are separated by Bexley Tunnel, which has been in operation 10+ years. I got all of Bexley's interlockings into service last winter; the missing bracket arm signals are in West Lynn.
                                James

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