Guys,
I was out shopping yesterday at my local electronic shop. Found these two fabulous books ($2 each) containing circuits for everything to do with model trains. Let me see:
Air horns, Capacitor discharge, crossing boom control, crossing sound (bells) flourescent light simulator (blinks your light on and off when swithing them on, like real flourecent, even set it to "broken" mode) light sensitive train detector (senses the shadow as the train passes over) light sequencer for shop fronts, or road works warning sign (the large animated arrow) Pedestrian crossing, including the button, dont walk/walk then lights change, wait then dont walk comes on then light changes back to green. etc etc... Cost of each unit to make is no more than $10 Aus ($5 US) or circuit boards only (you buy the parts) for $2 US. Tunnel stretcher (detects the presence of a train, turns power off for a preset time, then power on again) Good for delaying trains in tunnels to give a realistic travel time. All sorts of goodies. Shamus, Do you want the "bell" circuit for your crossing?
The "light sensitive" detector would be good for controlling crossing lights etc, as it detects the train when it arrives and stays "on" until the train has completely past that point, not when the electrics of the engine are at a particular point.
TOOT!
