USA Shipping Special

Until Thursday November 16, customers with a shipping address in the USA can have their purchase shipped for just $5.00 - if the item total in your order is over $80, the shipping will be free. Orders placed with this offer will be shipped by Saturday November 18 from within the USA. To take advantage of this offer, use the coupon code SHIPUSA at our checkout. Regular shipping charge will show along with a discount to adjust it to the special price.

News for customers in the USA:

As shown below, we are planning to be at the Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show in November. For those who can attend, we will have special prices on our products at the show. For those who cannot attend, you will be able to order from our website and pay a lower shipping fee (regular fee is $17). For orders placed From now until the end of October, the shipping fee will only be $5. From the first of November until the Thursday before the show, the shipping fee will be $7 - so order early! Just use the coupon code mentioned above.

Be aware that all orders placed using the coupon code will be shipped from within the USA on the weekend of the show.

Signal Plan Article

An article on creating a Signal Plan, the first step on the road to implement signalling, has been planned for awhile now. We have just completed a project to signal a small layout to be used in an educational setting. This is a fairly simple layout, with a short main line with one passing siding, so it makes a perfect case study for an article about creating a Signal Plan. The steps involved were documented and we are in the process of creating an article.

Signalling System Product Development

We have been moving forward with the development of a full signalling system, currently being called Signal Master Plus (see our article on The Evolution of a Signalling System.

Our initial Discrete I/O (DIO) Card, with 10 digital inputs and 12 digital outputs, was developed over the past two years, initially implementing and testing its features as a stand-alone device. Our RS485 Bus Controller (4BC), that attaches to a Raspberry Pi computer using its GPIO header, manages communications with the I/O cards has been under development this year. Our prototype 4BC and a pair of prototype DIOs and are now communicating and working together. We still have some development to implement additional needed commands and then we will be moving on to port RailServer to the Linux operating system of the Raspberry Pi.

We are now moving ahead with initial production of circuit boards for the DIO and the 4BC now that their prototypes have proven their functionality and final design changes have been made. We'll keep you posted on what is happening with this new product line.

Fast Clock Display kits remain unavailable:

The Fast Clock Display is currently not available as a kit, but our built units are available for the same price as our kit: $47.99.

Take advantage of this price while it remains in effect. As usual, quantity discounts apply starting at three units.

Switch Machine Interface Now Available

Our new product, a connection interface for the Tortoise Switch Machine by Circuitron, is now available for ordering.

We now have our installation and assembly instructions for this product on our Documentation Page.

The development of this product is part of the development of our new signalling product line, currently being called Signal Master Plus (see our article on the evolution of a Signalling System. As the second set of SPDT contacts are needed for switch position status, an easier way to wire this would be to used a 3-conductor ribbon cable. This new product is available with either a 3-pin header plug (upper image to the right) or a 3-position terminal block (lower image to the right) for the second contacts.

There are two LEDs in series with the motor to provide an easy to see indication of the switch machine's position, provided it continuously receives power. One is green and one is yellow, and when ordering you can select which colour indicates the left position and which colour indicates the right position. We will be adding an application note on translating left/right to normal/reverse in the next few days.

After consulting with initial users of the header version of the SMI, we now provide a right-angled 3-pin header as can be seen in the upper image to the right.

Accessories

We have added accessory items to our products page. This will include items for use with our products such as IC sockets, header plugs, spacers, and jumpers.

Traverser Power Supplies:

We now have a power supply suitable for the Traverser. It is a "wall wart" type power supply that provides 12 VAC at up to 750 mA, from a 120 VAC outlet (Canada and USA). The price is $8.99 on its own, but will only add $7 to a Traverser/QOD combo. See The Traverser product page for details.

Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show

We are planning to have a booth at the Greater Buffalo Train and Toy Show, run by the Western New York Railway Historical Society. It will be on November 18 and 19, 2023.
It is located at the Event Center on the Fairgrounds, 5820 South Park Avenue, Hamburg NY.
Please check back to see this information as it is updated.