Throughout 2021 I was working on the electronics side of our hobby. Although I have a background in electronics I was out of date, and the Arduino revolution had completely passed me by. I've been playing catch up. But this has mainly been on my indoor projects. My first project on Amblethorpe is a passenger information display for Colwick Station.
It shows "live" train information, but it's of fake trains. I've not connected it up to sensors on the track so it is not triggered by the coming and goings. This is possible, but I don't run Amblethorpe to a timetable so there is no point trying to do it.
There are 3 screens each 22mm by 11mm with 128*64 pixels to play with. The type is tiny, either 6px or 5px high. They cost £6.50 per screen.
They are dynamic, with some trains randomly delayed or cancelled. The clock ticks off the seconds minutes and hours. The destination stops scroll across the screen when required. These 3 are driven by a single Arduino micro controller, which cost £3.50. it all runs on 5 volts, and this can be pulled off the DCC track bus using a two quid voltage regulator. So the whole thing cost £25.
I used my plotter cutter to make a hosing out of black styrene. It's a bit bulky, but I hid most of it by placing a Welcome to Colwick sign on the top.
This year I'll get round to motoring the points on the Paltyville Ridge & Peak Railroad using and Arduino to provide the control and frog juicing.