Layout control panels

[G8B4Life]

Has it really been 7 months? wow. I guess it's a good thing you enjoy the electronics side on par with the rest of hobby. So many people would be close to madness if it took them that long to build their control panels. Mind you, you did virtually 2 per month which is not bad going.

What comes after control panels, besides installing them?

- Tim

[Alan]

What comes after control panels, besides installing them?

• locate panels, drill attach holes
• trim fascia for connector clearance
• tape, mud, paint fascia
• install panels
• connector plugs on module harnesses
• find and fix all my mistakes 

[Alan]

What comes after control panels, besides installing them?
- Tim

Since you asked 2-1/2 years ago , this is what comes next. Lots more pics on the LK&O site: http://www.lkorailroad.com/fascia-finished/

[G8B4Life]

Looking good Alan,

Congratulations on the upcoming retirement. More LK&O time! Looking forward it.

- Tim

[Alan]

It's alive! It's alive!

First two control panels are wired and working.





Gory details: http://www.lkorailroad.com/panel-wiring-part-i/

[nodcc4me]

Nicely done, Alan. I won’t ask how you were able to type the wire info on all those tags. 

[ON28]

Worth the wait!

[G8B4Life]

Nope, I don't believe it, your having us on! I suspect what really happened is that in the intervening years since you started the control panels the railroad got tired of waiting for it's interlocking supplier and went somewhere else. You photoshopped that LED glow in didn't you?

I must say I'm surprised you don't like crimping Alan, I'd use it everywhere I could just to get away from soldering wires. It must be a case of the proper tool for the job, and in the case of the JST series connectors that proper tool looks like it's an automatic strip-feed-crimp-cut to length machine I saw in action (online) once when I briefly considered whether making motherboards like what TCS and the Decoder Buddy guy did but for RP's 9 pin setup was something viable. BTW, the JST headers are available in way cooler colours than white too but you'd probably have a hard time finding them outside of the JST online shop.

Actually there is another type of JST crimping tool out there. Not sure if it does the XH size or not but it looks like a set of long nose pliers; much smaller than the ratcheting set.

- Tim

[Alan]

I must say I'm surprised you don't like crimping Alan, I'd use it everywhere I could just to get away from soldering wires.

- Tim

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I learned to solder before I was 10 years old. 50+ years on it is second nature. Everything else on the layout is soldered, why not the panel connectors too!

[emd_16645]

Alan, I think you need to brush up on your Red Green episodes.  Your mobile work station didn't have a scrap of duct tape on it.   

[Alan]

BTW, the JST headers are available in way cooler colours than white too but you'd probably have a hard time finding them outside of the JST online shop.
- Tim

Darn you Tim. Couldn't stop thinking about your comment on connector colors. Sure enough, JST offers 9 colors. Would have been perfect to color code the panel connectors as I would have needed 8 colors at most. I guess it falls into the "if I had it to do over" category.

Alan, I think you need to brush up on your Red Green episodes.  Your mobile work station didn't have a scrap of duct tape on it.   

Oops. No Possum Lodge invitation for me. 

[trainman605]

I'm and older guy and grew up with control panels, but with todays control system DCC, RailPro, etc. why would you want to go back in time 20 years. I guess it you always ran your trains that way, which at one time was the only way to operate a large layout and it's still your choice of operating system today, them go for it. These control panels that are shown in the above post are really nice and done very well, I wouldn't want to take anything away from them, so If that your way of running trains them that's the system you should use. I model in HOn3 and the D&RGW narrow gauge operated there trains the old fashion way, my layout works the same way. My new layout in G scale is running RailPro, no wiring, no track to clean, I guess RailPro is taking all the fun out of running trains, NOT.

trainman

[Alan]

I'm and older guy and grew up with control panels, but with todays control system DCC, RailPro, etc. why would you want to go back in time 20 years. I guess it you always ran your trains that way, which at one time was the only way to operate a large layout and it's still your choice of operating system today, them go for it. These control panels that are shown in the above post are really nice and done very well, I wouldn't want to take anything away from them, so If that your way of running trains them that's the system you should use. I model in HOn3 and the D&RGW narrow gauge operated there trains the old fashion way, my layout works the same way. My new layout in G scale is running RailPro, no wiring, no track to clean, I guess RailPro is taking all the fun out of running trains, NOT.

trainman

Because I greatly enjoy making things versus buying and plugging things in. If I had sufficient skills I would have built my own control system rather than buying RailPro. Also, not a fan of pecking on a little screen. Imagine how many screen taps it would take to work a yard. You would spend more time interacting with the screen than switching cars. That's not for me. The HC is my loco control stand, nothing more.

[William Brillinger]

Imagine how many screen taps it would take to work a yard.

IMO that is not the engineers job either. I prefer hand thrown switches, but if motors are your choice, fascia mounted controls make the best sense to me. Great looking Panels Alan!

[G8B4Life]

Yep, there's more to trains than just the locomotive and wagons behind it. One of my rail interests is safeworking so my plan, if I'm ever lucky enough to have a large layout, is to have a proper mechanical interlocking machine to control the station / yard. I have most of the plans for the parts and for the most part I can read a locking sketch (plan of the interlocking) though I do get lost quite easily the larger the interlocking sketch gets. However that sort of layout is all a pipe dream; space for any size layout is zero these days 

Control panels like Alans I wouldn't say are "back in time 20 years", Alans panels control only the points (switches), a 20 year old panel would likely control more than just that (track on/off, polarity, cabs etc). Also interlocking as panels still exist to this day so we could just think of Alans panels as interlocking machines... without signals, or actual interlocking.

Imagine how many screen taps it would take to work a yard.

IMO that is not the engineers job either.

Not a yard but it's certainly prototypical. We had (still have?) several installations along a couple of lines where the points (and signals) of the passing loops were activated by radio (DTMF I think) signals. Punch the code for the main or passing loop into the transmitter to change the points / clear the signal, all while on the run.

- Tim