Railway Model Research Articles

New Method of Electronic Control of Model Railroad Track

The digital control of a model railroad track requires the control of the movement of vehicles and their functions (sounds, lighting) as well as control of trackside elements (switches, signals, occupancy detectors, etc.). While the control of the vehicles is provided by a standard whose functionality is perfectly adequate for normal operation, the control of the trackside elements can be carried out in several ways. For small domestic lines, there are commercial solutions from various companies, but for extensive (large) lines there is no such concept, and the appropriate solution is usually tailored to the application (club lines, simulators for training railroad staff). The tracks in the Railway Vehicles Control Laboratory of the Faculty of Business and Economics of Mendel University in Brno can be classified as large; therefore, a special system is required. However, the existing system is not suitable for several basic reasons. Therefore, a modernized system was developed. A new protocol for the RS485 bus was designed, the hardware and firmware of a new GPIO slave module MTB-UNI v4 was developed, a new RS485 master module MTB-USB was developed and two other new hardware modules including firmware for their MCUs were developed. A computer application MTB Daemon and a library for accessing the bus were developed. The result is a system that meets the relatively high requirements and enables further development and use in the laboratory.

An experimental demonstration for a well-known example of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction

One of the more interesting applications of the integral form of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction is to an open surface whose contour is changing with time. An often-used theoretical example for this is a track formed from two parallel, conducting rails. The planar surface between the rails is bounded by a voltmeter at one end and a moving, conducting bar across and in contact with the rails at the other end. A uniform magnetic field is everywhere normal to this surface. As the bar moves through this magnetic field, changing the contour and the enclosed area, it induces a voltage between the rails. Of course, this theoretical example is an idealization containing impractical or impossible elements, such as a uniform magnetic field throughout space, and a lack of any interference from external sources. In this paper, we present a practical experimental realization for this theoretical example. The rails are a length of model railroad track, and the magnetic field is provided by a string of powerful neodymium magnets. A battery-powered, motorized car drags the shorting bar along the track, and the voltage between the rails is displayed on an oscilloscope. The approximations necessarily present in the experiment are accounted for in a manner that still allows good comparison with the theory. Modifications of the basic experiment that provide additional understanding for Faraday’s law are also presented.

EV sound hacking Part 2: Creating an alternative soundtrack

The Hyundai VESS (detailed in Part 1) is controlled by one of the vehicle’s CAN (controller area network) buses. Messages containing speed, braking, power, and dozens of other parameters are continuously streamed to the bus and can be decoded by a simple microcontroller or single-board computer. The author, an avid railroad enthusiast, sought to replace the standard warning sounds in his Hyundai Kona EV with those of a locomotive. A microcontroller is used to translate CAN messages to DCC, a standard model railroad control protocol, to facilitate the use of an off-the-shelf model railroad sound module. This allows for speed-dependent locomotive sounds to be generated automatically by the electric vehicle.

YANG/NETCONF ROADM: Evolving Open DWDM Toward SDN Applications

Evolution in the field of optical networking in National Research and Education Networks led to utilization of Alien Wavelengths (AWs) and disaggregated Open Line Systems. Dynamic provisioning of AWs, in general spectrum services, is achieved via Reconfigurable Optical Add Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs) operating with flexible spectrum allocation. Northbound interface of these is usually implemented via the NETCONF protocol and through an appropriate Yet Another Next Generation (YANG) model. This paper presents a self-contained flexible spectral grid YANG model for low-level control and monitoring of a ROADM. The presented YANG model offers access to all functional components of a modern flexgrid ROADM and enables SDN applications to access and manipulate the media layer with no required external validation. The model is verified by an SDN application which implements optical path protection of AWs. A physical demonstration with model railroad intuitively shows the accomplished functionality.

Sleep Train by Jonathan London

Reviewed by: Sleep Train by Jonathan London Elizabeth Bush London, JonathanSleep Train; illus. by Lauren Eldridge. Viking, 2018 [32p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-451-47303-5 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-698-18350-6 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad 2-5 yrs Picture book bins hold many literary strategies for getting to sleep, especially for kids immune to time-honored sheep counting. Here London's narrator is in a cozy berth, watching the scenery roll by while counting railroad cars. Yes, there's a paradox here—watching the cars roll by while he's on board the train—but it won't take imaginative superpower for listeners to make the cognitive leap as they follow the handsome little preschooler reading this very book in bed, and then winding up inside a sleeping car. A full view of the ten-car train (plus engine and caboose) is a reference point as London names the cars he counts in verse; it's the verse, though, that derails this effort. Instead of the steady, sleep-inducing cadence that should chug kids off to sleep, the rhythm here is annoyingly inconsistent: "There's a flatbed car (that makes seven!)/and a coach with seats./And there's a dining car/where everybody eats"; "Sleep Train. /Jiggling down that track./But there are ten sleepy cars/going clickety-clack. …" Eldridge's artwork is fully engrossing—model railroad cars and built sets, photographed and computer manipulated into midnight-blue settings, are a daytime delight for young railroad enthusiasts taking inspiration for their own layouts. Those will absorb the attention of young viewers who are less somnolent than their adults had hoped. EB Copyright © 2017 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Model Railway Traction Performance Measurements and Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to introduce measurements and analysis of a 1:8 scale model railroad in order to provide the possibility to use modern locomotive design methods in this application. Tractive force and vehicle speed are necessary for this analysis and therefore a measuring train car has been developed. On-board strain gage and a magnetic encoder are used to obtain the necessary data. Therefore a part of this paper is devoted to describing the usage of these sensors. Obtained data is processed, analyzed and also compared to a full scale railroad.

Design and realization of light modules for miniature model passenger coaches

This paper shows the main steps to design and realize an original light module for miniature model passenger carriages, with the possibility to switch on and off individual lights and to operate the lights according to certain patterns, which improves greatly the visual appearance of miniature passenger trains. This continues the previous work of the authors concerning the model railroading and the implications of nonconventional technologies in this field of activity.

전동열차의 운행에너지 절감을 위한 최적 운행 패턴 모델링

In this paper, Minimize driving energy for operation within a defined distance yeokgan fixed time-resolved and determine the nature of the train is traveling, and to model mathematically. Urban rail car cruise in general by the PID controller is used instead of automatically tracking a target value while traveling in energy consumption to be minimized by using optimal control model railroad charyangreul was designed under real operating conditions the same. The actual track conditions apply to the minimum value or a separate listing of cars around the track facility without a driving energy of the automatic operation and to reduce the driving energy. Therefore, actual route chosen straight line 8 / gradient segment / curve for the measured data analysis, such as sections within the city-minute drive each section and presented how the trains to save energy, depending on the pattern of the train station in the region.

압전소자를 이용한 철도차량용 스마트 좌석 기술 적용성 검토

Abstract A study on smart seats for railroad vehicles was conducted using piezoelectric (PZT) sensors. For this purpose, the concept of passenger friendly smart seats was defined, and a PZT sensor was selected as the optimum sensor based on this concept. Using PZT sensors, simulation tests were performed using a sub-scale model railroad vehicle. In these tests, the main functions of the smart seats were extracted and simplified to improve the effectiveness of the simulation tests. Based on the test results, the system for smart seats proposed in this paper was successfully verified using PZT sensors and the dedicated operation software for the system. This paper will contribute to the improvement of services in high-speed rail systems through advances in ticket checking tasks. Keywords: Smart Seats, Railroad Vehicles, PZT, Simulation[접수일: 2014. 9. 1, 수정일: 2014. 9. 18, 게재확정일: 2014. 9. 23] *한국철도기술연구원 융합신기술연구팀, **서울과학기술대학교 기계공학과, ***서울과학기술대학교 기계․자동차공학과, ✝Corresponding Author: Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, 139-743, Korea (E-mail: dkim@seoultech.ac.kr)

Coupled finite element and multibody system dynamics modeling of a three-dimensional railroad system

During the last two centuries, railroad vehicles have been an important means of transportation of both people and cargo, due to their economic and comfort advantages. Railroad vehicles are a highly economical means of transporting large quantities of cargo over long distances, and also provide a safe and comfortable means of passenger transport. Over the last 30 years or so, the finite element method (FEM) has become more widely used to model railroad systems including the rails, sleepers and substructure. Multibody system dynamics (MBS) software programs are used to model the contact between the wheels and the rails in an effort to study the contact forces and the general dynamics of railroad vehicles. Coupling both the FEM and MBS is a very useful technique to build a reliable model that includes the advantages of both methods. In this work, a full three-dimensional finite element model is created that uses beam, solid and spring elements to model the rails, fasteners, sleepers and substructure. The model treats the rails and the substructure as deformable bodies. Mode shapes of the finite element model are extracted for use in a MBS code to analyze the deformation of the track and substructure under dynamic loading conditions. The results of this new model agree well with results published in the literature.

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEED AND HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER TRAINS ON RAILWAYS UKRAINE

This paper analyzes the trends of high-speed and high-speed passenger trains on the railways of Ukraine on the basis of market research and analysis of passenger traffic plying the effectiveness of conventional and high-speed passenger trains within the existing operating model railroad network. The analysis of changes in the competitiveness of rail transport in the passenger transportation market in the implementation of high-speed and high-speed rail passenger traffic. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of most profitable running of passenger trains normal speed (speed up to 120 km/h ) and passenger trains new Hyundai and Skoda (speed up to 160 km/h), which began to run from 2012 on the railway network inUkraine. We prove the efficiency of high-speed railway passenger transportation to Ukraine on the basis of an extensive network of specialized upgraded lines on which trains are capable of speeds up to 180 km/hwith the possibility of partial interaction with conventional network.

Serious Leisure: A Case Study of Model Railroading in Relation to Successful Aging

We examined longstanding model railroading as serious leisure in relation to successful aging in two older men. We used case study qualitative procedures to collect and analyze interview and observational data. Four themes emerged from the cross-case analyses: (a) distinct occupational profiles, (b) MRR as serious leisure, (c) MRR within activity-filled lives, (d) demonstrations of successful aging. For these two men railroading was a serious leisure activity that added to their engagement with life and fostered their overall successful aging by promoting well-being and function. Their model railroading was serious leisure that included fulfillment and accomplishment, as well as ongoing knowledge and skill development.

鉄道模型で基礎の重要性を今一度(<メカライフ特集>承のものづくり)

鉄道模型で基礎の重要性を今一度(<メカライフ特集>承のものづくり)

Demonstration Experiment for Energy Storage and Rapid Charge System for the Solar Light Rail

An application of renewable energy is expected. However, renewable energy such as solar and wind is unstable. Therefore, thermal power plants are necessary to operate solar power plants and wind turbines on commercial power supply. In this paper, a rechargeable system for renewable energy application is proposed and a demonstration experiment using rideable model railroad is reported. The electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) unit of 17.5V - 171.4 F is charged by solar panels, and another EDLC unit of 15.0V - 100 F mounted on the railcar is charged rapidly from EDLC unit connected to solar panels. A railcar run by charged energy on 9 meters of strait rail. Although the experiment was carried out in January–only two weeks after of the winter solstice, rapid charge was carried out 56 times and railcar ran for 9hours a day. It was confirmed that this method–using EDLC as energy storage device and rapid charge from EDLC to EDLC–is effective through a day.

Design and Realization of a Sound Module for a Miniature Model Steam-Locomotive

This paper shows the main steps to design and realize an original sound module for a miniature model steam locomotive, which produces the adequate sounds and the characteristic steam puffing in synchronization with the wheels of the locomotive. This continues the previous work of the authors concerning the model railroading and the implications of nonconventional technologies in this field of activity.

SOUND SYSTEMS FOR MODEL RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVES

On-board model railroad speaker enclosure designs are presented that allow maximum sized speakers, improve impedance matching of sound to the outside of the locomotive, and isolate back and front speaker waves while maintaining the standard horizontal drive-train in model train locomotives.

Developing Visualization Tools for Geographic Literacy in a Museum Exhibit: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration

As a result of reduced formal instruction and reduced direct experience in the natural environment, students suffer from a deficiency in geographic literacy. Informal learning environments, such as a model railroad exhibit at a history museum, can be exploited to introduce key geographic concepts (e.g., scalar compression, landscape transformations, and human-environment interaction). Presented here are historically and geographically accurate visualization tools developed via community collaboration across disciplines (geography/education) and institutions (university/museum/community volunteers). This article highlights geographic learning that takes place in informal education settings.

Invisible Things (review)

Reviewed by: Invisible Krista Hutley Hautman, Pete Invisible. Simon, 2005149p ISBN 0-689-86800-6$15.95 R Gr. 7-12 Seventeen-year-old Dougie Hanson knows the importance of focus and concentration, of "doing exactly one thing at a time." He doesn't think he is troubled, like everyone says, and he thinks his weekly visits to the psychiatrist and the pills he is supposed to take are unnecessary. There are only two things he cares about: his excruciatingly detailed model railroad and town, named Madham, which takes up three Ping-Pong tables; and his best friend Andy Morrow, who lives next door. Though popular, athletic, and attractive Andy is Dougie's opposite in every way, Dougie knows they are best friends, even after what happened at the Tuttle place three years ago. In fact, Dougie and Andy stay friends because they don't talk about the Tuttle place; if they do, Dougie might remember something he is trying very hard to forget. Right away, readers will know that something is off about Dougie ("I am very easy to get along with. My mother would not agree with that. She finds me difficult. In fact, she thinks that I am troubled and disturbed. I find it troubling that she finds me disturbing, so she must be right. Right?"), but they may not guess how unreliable he is at first, so convincing is he. Perfectly placed hints about Dougie's obsessive behaviors, his preoccupation with fire, the Tuttle place, and Andy's true fate peek out from behind Dougie's uncomfortably matter-of-fact narration, carefully building into an intimate portrayal of a boy walking the razor-thin wire between sanity and madness. Hautman's gripping psychological mystery is tense, compelling, and sorrowful, and the disturbing ending lingers long after the book is closed. Copyright © 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Proximity control of on-board processor-based model train sound and control system

A model railroad remote object comprises a proximity detector, an on-board accessory, and an on-board processor. The proximity detector changes state based on proximity of the detector to a proximity source. The accessory, which is located on or within the remote object, exhibits a behavior based on a parameter. The processor, which is operatively connected to the proximity detector and the accessory, affects the value of the parameter of the accessory based on the state of the proximity detector. By way of illustration and not limitation, the on-board accessory may be an audio device, the behavior may be emission of sound, and the parameter may be sound volume.

Ada and software engineering education

How do you select a programming language for your project? Few developers have the luxury of coding the same design in multiple languages to compare language merits. For over twenty years my undergraduate students have implemented the same large (10-15K lines), multi-tasking, real-time embedded system. In one 15 week semester, student teams specify, design, and implement software to control a substantial model railroad layout. Students implement everything from device drivers for custom I/O hardware to high-level decision making algorithms. Student teams have implemented the project in both Ada and C. This paper describes the course, the laboratory, the project, and an analysis of the results achieved with each of the implementation languages.