Station Signalling 2020
by Clive Burrows
This Signalling was installed early Feb 2020. The Idea came about when members showed concerns that Trains had set off without the Station Masters permission on event days. This often led to confusion when trying to release Trains from the Station. Now we have 3 Signals for the 3 Platforms installed on the foot bridge at the end of the station.
Signals are marked up from the Left to right Platform 1, P1. P2 and P3. There are two ways to operate these signals. Either by push buttons and LED indication mounted on Station B box "STB" or by the Station Master with a remote control.
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The picture below shows the signals on the OFF setting only one YELLOW signal, Drive with caution.
The old signal can bee seen on the bridge which has been taken out of service. This was a repeater for the one by the tunnel entrance. "S01".
There are two states of operation.
OFF State. NO Station Master Control
This is on a normal general steam up day when there is no requirement for a Station Master. In this state there should be no need to press any buttons to activate the signals. The signal works automatically. Only the centre P2 signal is in operation or lit up. P2 is left at Yellow, so proceed with caution. P2 signal goes to Red when a train leaving the station triggers the detector by the green shed. The P2 signal is linked to S01 signal just by the tunnel. P2 only resets back to Yellow once S01 has returned from Red back to Yellow.
ON State. Station Master Control e.g. event days.
This is when we have a Station Master to control the release of trains from the Station Area. All three of the Platform signals will be set to Red. The Station Master will decide who can leave the station by controlling these signals. Once Train and crew are ready to depart. The Station Master can set either P1, P2 or P3. The Px signal will change to Yellow so proceed with caution. Px signal goes to Red when a train leaving the station triggers the detector by the green shed. The Station Master cannot set up another route until the signal S01 has cleared. S01 signal has repeater LED’s on STB box and the remote control. The route setting can be set by either of the following two methods.
One, The handheld transmitter.
Two, on STB box near the end of the platform.
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Should the Station master set up a route and the train does not start. He can reset the system back to Red then select another route. Please note a reset takes two seconds before a new route can be selected.
How to change between the ON and OFF state
ON = Press buttons P1 & P2 & P3, This also acts as a reset all to Red
OFF = Press buttons P1 & P3 Once event has finished back single signal only
Interlocking Signals
When in Station Master Control. A route cannot be set if S01 is Red. The platform signals are interlocked with the original system to maintain a safe operation. We have an experimental track detector just after the station exit. This only operates the station signals. Should it fail the S01 signal will set the station signals to Red
Please leave this in the OFF state on non event days
STB box is the connection box at the B end of the station by the walk bridge. This has the three switches which can control the Station signals. The S01 signal is now repeated on this box. There is a Blue Led to show that its in Station master remote control.
The Control box is installed in the signal box. Clive Burrows designed and made the PCB. An Arduino Nano, NRF24l01, Opto couplers and transistor driver were used
