Above left is SE8C board, right is BDL. Mounted under Pasco. Note terminal strips in middle and pushbutton hanging down on right.

SE8C has 8 outputsand 8 pushbutton inputs for Tortoise turnout control. Yellow wire is input, Red/green is output. Then out to tortoise and pushbuttons from terminal strips.

Note the LED. This is a red/green LED which will mount on fascia and give visual reading of which way turnout is turned on main. Wire goes back via phone cable to terminal strip to connect with output wire.

DCC Command Center. Sorry for fuzziness

SIGNAL, TURNOUT, & DETECTION WIRING

I am using Digitrax system for signaling because it is almost "plug and play" (pray?). However there is still wiring to do for the turnouts, power and detectcion.

SE8C is for signal and turnouts. BDL162 for detection. I have elected to decentrailze the boards and use loconet to distribute control

Terminal strips for connections make life so much easier. thank goodness for Radio Shack!!

The first phase is to get tortoises and detection installed. Digitrax has a good article on transponding in its technical notes which details how to plan this all out. I found this useful even though, I am not sure I am going to use transponding yet. It can be added later if you plan for it.

I am also installing fascia pushbuttons for local turnout control when railfanning, staging, or just playing around. CTC control of turnouts is from computer and dispatched decides if local control is available.

Novices are welcome. We are working on a method to dispatch via Internet using JMRI Panel Pro. Click here to see the CTC panel being built.

Click here to see how signals are being wired

I live in CA/Central CA, near Nevada City. Email me:

© 2004  Kent Williams, a member of NMRA, and UNW All Rights reserved