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Trains in the digitial age
Mar. 10th, 2024 02:55 pmModel railway control is tradtionally wuite a simple system. You apply power to the rails. This is picked up through a model locomotive's wheels and it drive a motor. This works pretty well, but it means that if you have two locomotives on the same track, they have to do exactly the same thing.
These days we have the option of digital control - DCC. This sends a digital signal through the track. A DCC decoder component picks this up and converts it to direct current for the locomotives. Each locomotive is keyed to a specific ID, and can be controlled individually. This wasn't the first time this was tried though.
In 1979, Hornby released the Zero 1 digital controller. Same basic idea; based on a 4 bit CPU, so - because of the magic of binary - could control 16 locomotives. It was never successful, but it was interesting, so when I saw one many years ago for sale with accessories for a tenner I thought I should buy it. Unfortunately, It didn't include the instructions or the locomotive control modules. I never did work out how to use it. Eventually I forgot about it and moved out, and the controller was kept in the loft in my parents' place.
Recently I rediscovered it. And these days things are easier. We have the internet where people provide instructions. We have ebay, where people sell used modules. It seemed like a fun project to get it to work.
I spent part of this morning fixing the modules I bought. The wires had been shortened dramatically, so I needed to extend them. I bought cable for points that conveniently had the same colours. Cables are now extended, and I still have most of a reel I can use for its actual purpose. Next step was removing the coding. These modules are coded using conductive paint, or in this case, solder, on some metal tabs. I feel that they should be coded 1, 2, and 3 so I removed the solder and recoded them.
And it was then just a question of testing them. The instructions are available onliine but I felt a printed copy would be nice. And to my delight it worked! Had a bit of a play with static motors. One interesting piece of functionality is an intertia setting, which makes a locmotive take time changing speed.
I feel a nice sense of achievement, but now what? Ultimately it's not really all that good. It suffers from techniocal limitations of the late 1970s. The modules are a bit chunky and some locomotives need a permanently coupled wagon to hold it. It lacks granularity. Trains only have 14 speeds. The small OO layout I have doens't need that sort of power.
These days we have the option of digital control - DCC. This sends a digital signal through the track. A DCC decoder component picks this up and converts it to direct current for the locomotives. Each locomotive is keyed to a specific ID, and can be controlled individually. This wasn't the first time this was tried though.
In 1979, Hornby released the Zero 1 digital controller. Same basic idea; based on a 4 bit CPU, so - because of the magic of binary - could control 16 locomotives. It was never successful, but it was interesting, so when I saw one many years ago for sale with accessories for a tenner I thought I should buy it. Unfortunately, It didn't include the instructions or the locomotive control modules. I never did work out how to use it. Eventually I forgot about it and moved out, and the controller was kept in the loft in my parents' place.
Recently I rediscovered it. And these days things are easier. We have the internet where people provide instructions. We have ebay, where people sell used modules. It seemed like a fun project to get it to work.
I spent part of this morning fixing the modules I bought. The wires had been shortened dramatically, so I needed to extend them. I bought cable for points that conveniently had the same colours. Cables are now extended, and I still have most of a reel I can use for its actual purpose. Next step was removing the coding. These modules are coded using conductive paint, or in this case, solder, on some metal tabs. I feel that they should be coded 1, 2, and 3 so I removed the solder and recoded them.
And it was then just a question of testing them. The instructions are available onliine but I felt a printed copy would be nice. And to my delight it worked! Had a bit of a play with static motors. One interesting piece of functionality is an intertia setting, which makes a locmotive take time changing speed.
I feel a nice sense of achievement, but now what? Ultimately it's not really all that good. It suffers from techniocal limitations of the late 1970s. The modules are a bit chunky and some locomotives need a permanently coupled wagon to hold it. It lacks granularity. Trains only have 14 speeds. The small OO layout I have doens't need that sort of power.
