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Steam Nut
Fireman
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Posted - 07/30/2011 : 11:01:01 AM
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If you come over I will give you one!
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| Steam Lives! |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 1272 |
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LVRALPH
Fireman
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 Posted - 08/01/2011 : 06:03:27 AM
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This week will be staightening up the basement time. I ran the CMRI for 6 hours yesterday, while I tested things and cleaned some track. I will run it again when I run the track cleaning car on Saturday.
If I have any time this week on the RR (I should) I will just make signals for future installation. Maybe work on the DIN 32 card, but nothing major. I figure Hueber lets the magic blue smoke out of things by noon, or has the RR hopelessly plugged that it will be a short session. Wait for it...
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LVRALPH
Fireman
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Posted - 08/06/2011 : 2:07:04 PM
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Less than 24 hours to go. Maybe I should e mail everyone and cancel. It will make my day easier! Naw, the wife just baked cookies for tomorrow...she would kill me. Hueber still has not watched the CTC video I gave him 2 months ago. So it's not my fault if he screws things up. Heck it will most likely be that way anyway!
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MarkF
Engineer
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Posted - 08/06/2011 : 6:11:03 PM
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Oh boy! I am counting the minutes to the big op session! Considering Ralph started this project well over a year ago, I have big expectations! But all kidding aside, I know I will be impressed. I can't wait to see the signals changing, occupancy lamps flashing across the panel, and smooth operations like never before!
Wait, wait, wait. This is Ralph's we're talking about. I almost forgot! I need to remember to bring my Johnny Walker Black label to ease the pain!  
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Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Country: USA
| Posts: 9270 |
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LVRALPH
Fireman
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Posted - 08/06/2011 : 7:50:09 PM
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Yea, i was wondering whose layout you were talking about.
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dlwrailfan1
Crew Chief
Premium Member
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Posted - 08/06/2011 : 11:53:53 PM
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Almost the day and Ralph is ready. 
Everyone -- we need pictures and stories -- this has got to be good. Like fine wine, this session has been aging for a year now.
Enjoy! 
Eric
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Country: USA
| Posts: 574 |
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LVRALPH
Fireman
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Posted - 08/07/2011 : 04:24:30 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by dlwrailfan1
Almost the day and Ralph is ready.
Everyone -- we need pictures and stories -- this has got to be good. Like fine wine, this session has been aging for a year now.
Enjoy!
Eric
Eric, are you sure I did not leave something in the trash downstairs?
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LVRALPH
Fireman
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Posted - 08/07/2011 : 07:35:10 AM
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Well, the day has arrived. I woke up at 3:45 AM not sleeping, so I decided to go downstairs and run some last minute checks. It is what it is
It will be neat to see signals and turnouts change automatically on the layout, and to see the progression of a train on the CTC machine. It will make the dispatchers job fun! I hope this reduces radio traffic. All I can do is sit back, take pictures and report back tonighjt or tomorrow.
I hope Hueber did his homework and watched the CTC video I bought. As of Friday he had not. He only had 2 months to get this assignmant done.
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lv4142003
Engine Wiper
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Posted - 08/09/2011 : 6:02:21 PM
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I'm surprised Ralph hasn't written anything about the Op's/ shake down session we had on Sunday, so I'll inform you. It went very well from where I was sitting. Firstly, I DID NOT watch the video he gave me 2 months ago, just never got around to it, I HAVE a life. Secondly, we had Tony ( a professional dispatcher) who came up and helped me considerably, and a flawless program (kudo's Conrail Bill). Only about half (maybe a little less) of the railroad is now signaled and switches controlled from the board, but what a difference. The amount of radio traffic was cut in half and the stress level was reduced from "FRANTIC" to "I'm gonna go get some more of Sandy's cookies." That is probably due to having very good operators who do follow instructions to having REALLY VERY good operators who can interpret my stammering on the radio. Ralph also has "ECHO" signals on the local control panels that let the operators see the signal without putting their heads on the track, that worked very well. But the panel and switches performed way beyond my expectations (and they were pretty high to start with). There are some problematic things that need to be gone over with Conrail Bill, like the amount of time the signal loop takes (the time from pressing the code button until the lights indicate everything moved), but nothing Ralph will lose any hair over (Oh wait! he doesn't have any hair anymore anyway). The other is my problem. When I made up the graphics for the panel I made at least 2 errors on the track diagram, that willh have to be fixed soon, because they confuse the operator when trying to send trains from Crestwood through Soloman's Gap, and again at Laurel Run. Also, where Ralph (actually Sandy allowed Ralph) to put the machine (in his office) it is quieter, you can't hear the guys downstairs talking and distracting you from the job at hand. While I didn't get to run any trains, there's still an embargo on my operating license in the basement, I had more fun "operating" this time than I have before. Congratulations to Ralph, Conrail Bill, Tony and the "Usual List of Suspects". Hueber
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Country: USA
| Posts: 160 |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 08/09/2011 : 7:12:49 PM
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It's great to hear that it went well!
Don
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Country: USA
| Posts: 4594 |
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wvrr
Fireman
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Posted - 08/09/2011 : 7:59:10 PM
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That's fantastic. It sounds like all that hard work paid off and should be an incentive to keep going. Kudos to everyone involved!
Chuck
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Wyoming Valley Railroad
http://sites.google.com/site/wvrails/ |
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MarkF
Engineer
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Posted - 08/09/2011 : 11:37:56 PM
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Great summary Joe! And I will concur. All things considered, I think Joe did a great job. And I will confess that I was impressed with what Ralph has up and operating so far. Yes, some quirks need to be worked out, but it is working! Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long that morning and was only there for a couple of hours, but I did get to watch Joe work the board and did get to run 1 train. It was fun to watch the signals and see the board working. Can't wait to see Ralph's photos.
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Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Country: USA
| Posts: 9270 |
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LVRALPH
Fireman
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Posted - 08/10/2011 : 06:11:29 AM
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I have not posted anything here, since I think those that attended could better describe what happened.
I will post the pics under an op session thread as they really have nothing to do with the signalling system. But from what I saw, I was happy. Very happy. It will be an incentive to get more up and running. Now I need to save up for a couple more SMINI's so I can get some of the eastern portion of the RR hooked up.
And Joe, you could have watched the video. Your life is just disorganized! :)
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conrailbill
Section Hand
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Posted - 08/10/2011 : 7:13:23 PM
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Below is the section of code containing the delay factors. It is located just in the paragraph in front of the statement goto Label BRTL:
You only need to change the first portion of the "IF" statement. I use the second portion for my local testing when running it on my laptop simulating your I/O from the C/MRI hardware.
You might consider changing the variables as below:
CCDL = 2
ICDL = 3
SMDL = 8
RTDL = 20
LKDL = 90
Caution on setting SMDL too low because you want to give the slow motion turnout motors time to change position completely before letting the program light up the traffic Lamps and signals to let the trains pass over a switch.
RTDL is the time it takes to "knock down" a CLEAR aspect to a STOP aspect.
You don't have any electric locks set up so we can discuss the LKDL delay timer later.
REM**INITIALIZE GENERAL PURPOSE TIME DELAY CONSTANTS
IF SIMFLAG$ = "CMRI" THEN
CCDL = 5 'Control Code transmission delay (5 seconds)
ICDL = 10 'Indication Code transmission delay (10 seconds)
SMDL = 20 'Switchmotor transition delay (20 seconds)
RTDL = 60 'Signal running time delay (60 seconds)
LKDL = 90 'Lock release time delay (90 seconds)
NUMDL = 59 'Number of independent delays
ELSE
CCDL = 5 'Control Code transmission delay (5 seconds)
ICDL = 10 'Indication Code transmission delay (10 seconds)
SMDL = 20 'Switchmotor transition delay (20 seconds)
RTDL = 60 'Signal running time delay (60 seconds)
LKDL = 90 'Lock release time delay (90 seconds)
NUMDL = 59 'Number of independent delays
END IF
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conrailbill
Section Hand
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Posted - 08/11/2011 : 1:09:23 PM
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In order to better understand the timing delays, here's what happens on Ralph's CTC panel and behind the scene when the dispatcher changes a switch position and hits the code button.
I will indicate which "TIMER DELAY" is being used.
With the CTC machine currently set up for OS 131 with:
Turnout Lever in the NORMAL position
Turnout Lever Normal Lamp lit.
Signal Lever in STOP position.
Signal Lever STOP Lamp lit.
let's start out with a simple changing of turnout 131 from Normal to Reverse.
1. On the CTC machine, we first move the Switch Lever to the "REVERSE" position.
2. Next, we hit the code button for OS 131.
3. On Ralph's machine, his CODE and INDICATION LAMPS are temporarily mounted in a black box. Normally, they are mounted on a special plate near the bottom of the CTC machine.
The CODE LAMP lights up for "CCDL" seconds and then extinquishes. This simulates the turnout command being sent to the field equipment.
4. Next, internally in the ctc program, the Switch Motor is commanded to the "REVERSE" position.
5. A delay timer starts for "SMDL" seconds to simulate the time it takes to move the points of the machine.
6. At the same time, the INDICATION LAMP lights up for "ICDL" seconds and then extinquishes.
Since the SMDL timer is longer than the ICDL timer, the INDICATION LAMP will extinquish before the SMDL timer expires.
7. When the INDICATION LAMP extinquishes, the Turnout Lever Lamp extinquishes indicating that the field has sent an indication that the field equipment is in the process of changing the turnout's points position.
8. When the SMDL timer expires, the INDICATION LAMP lights up a 2nd time for ICDL seconds and then extinquishes. This is to represent the field sending in the new position of the turnout to the CTC machine.
9. The previously extinquished Switch Lever LAMPS now light up with the REVERSE LAMP only.
So, the whole reason for the delay timers is to simulate the communications between the dispatcher's CTC machine and the trackside equipment.
When the CODE LAMP is lit, it means the CTC machine is in the process of sending commands to the field equipment.
When the INDICAGTION LAMP is lit, it means the CTC machine is receiving information from the field equipment.
When multiple OS's code buttons are pressed, no matter the order, it processes from lowest station to the hightest station number. In Ralph's case, this is from LEFT to RIGHT. There are a couple of exceptions to this however.
Some dispatchers prefer to set up their routes and then when ready, code in the signals.
Others prefer to set up the turnouts and the signals at the same time.
Ralph's CTC program can do either.
Hope this helps.
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