1200 YouTube views in 24 hours

It amazes me how many people have watched the videos I've put up on YouTube about my various projects. Just yesterday Sparkfun, an electronics supplier I frequent, published a blog post featuring a video I did showing how I did the electronics on the model railroad layout. Twenty-four hours later more than 1200 people have check the video out. It is not quite millions like Merton the Chat Roulette piano player, but still amazing! Here are my top videos with their "views" and how long the've been up:

7,700 - Buggy, a Crafty LED Project (1 year ago).

4,400 - Dawson Station (5 months ago).

4,100 - Arduino Control of a Model Train (2 weeks ago).
4,100 - Arduino Rocks (2 years ago, only 11 seconds long).

3,100 - Game of Life - 10 Boards (1 year ago).

2,900 - Wii Nunchuk Controlled Model Train (2 months ago).

2,500 - Dawson Station Update (2 months ago).

Update 3/30 -> 4,100 views!

Update 4/07 -> 6,300 views.

Motive Power (with new photos)

The major discrepancy in my model railroad layout was that I didn't have a "realistic" locomotive for it. When I bought the N-scale starter set, it came with a ATSF GP-20, which I figured was "close enough" to the GP-39s that Willamette & Pacific were running to start with. In fact, most of WP's locos were previously ATSF units and retained such artifacts as the blue/yellow paint scheme until such time as they made it into the paint shop.

I had obtained a set of MicroScale decals several years ago, but hadn't been brave enough to try a conversion. The gift of the "DARE" car, and the subsequent upcoming video shoot was enough to spark me into action. (The engine was not part of the display at the Model Logger's Conference.) The first step was disassembling the engine:

Here it is after painting. I used an airbrush and GN orange for the body, and Testor's flat black with a brush for the top.

The decals realy make this sharp. They are the same type I used on model kits as a kid. You soak them in water and "float" them into position. After they dry, a couple of coats of matt clear coat protect the decals and make them look painted on! I selected WPRR 2302 "Adair Village", because that is where I live. I've never seen the real "Adair Village" in action. WPRR 2310 "Monroe" would have been perhaps a more appropriate choice, being geographically closer to Dawson, but hey, I'm the boss of this railroad.

For the perfectionists, or "rivet counters" as they are known in the modeling world, here is a picture of the "prototype". The Willamette & Pacific (WPRR) name is confusingly synonymous with Portland & Western (PNWR), but you can see the latter on the current specimen (the decals were made in 1995, and I think the name switching started in about 2000). I've also got my logo set too far back on the body, but hey, sometime "close enough" is close enough!

Prototype WPRR-2302

WPRR-2313 "Lake Oswego" Switching at Dawson in 2007

(photo courtesy Joel Ashcroft)

Another Appearance in Small Layout Scrapbook

Carl Arendt's mentions Dawson Station in his article "How Stage 'Tricks' Can Add Enjoyment to Small Louts" for the use of background sound.

"The point of including them here is that these sounds add immensely to the effectiveness of a micro or small layout. If you haven't yet tried them out, you might want to do so. To demonstrate the point, we have a newly-updated version of Ken Olsen's switching operations on his layout, Dawson Station, which was voted among this site's top favorite layouts of 2009.

"Ken's N-scale 1x4ft (30x120cm) micro layout faithfully models the Hull-Oaks Sawmill in Oregon, which was one of the last railroad-served steam sawmills in the U.S. Ken has reproduced a typical switch-run to this mill and made a video on his tiny layout to show how it worked. I'd suggest you start by turning off the sound on your computer, and watch a couple minutes of this excellent tape. Then stop, rewind, turn the sound on, and watch it all the way through. YOU'LL BE AMAZED AT THE DIFFERENCE TRAIN SOUND MAKES. Even on very small layouts!"

Just in case you want to try what he mentions:

Electronics at the Station

I put together a video to demonstrate the electronic controls I used for the Model Logger's Congress.

Successful Modeling Conference Showing!

A full day in Elsie, Oregon, at the sixth Annual Pacific Model Logger's Conference. It is a comfort hanging out with people similarly afflicted with near obsessive interest in scale modeling railroad / lumber themes.A late night of firmware upgrades the night before paid off. The layout performed (surprisingly) perfectly. Pressing the button started the mill sounds and had the train slowly move back and forth on the center spur for about two minutes. Lights, action, and sound must have made for a winning combination because it got first place in the diorama division.

This was a bit amazing because the returning champion, whose model graces this years plaque, brought another amazing entry. He must have been a bit shocked when they announce him for second place. He did win best in show, which I think he deserved. I did get one other surprise, the first ever Memorial Award for modeling spirit. The presenter mentioned that I've taken the layout to various events and have my daughters help me.

A special thanks to my wing man who helped me get setup and provided lunch.

Fresh Rolling Stock

My friend Bob sent me a beautiful addition to the stable, fixing what was the weak link in my line up. Here it is, fresh out of the box, Microtrain's C-50-9 Caboose SP# 4745.

And here it is again after a little work. It has been weathered and some roof details added.
Just for reference, here is what it replaced. A major upgrade!

Thanks Bob!

The Stack

The controller hardware design, while less than optimal, has settled down. It is too late to make any major changes before the show. I've taken to calling it "The Stack":
Starting at the bottom is the most robust part of the stack, an Arduino Duemilanove. It is a well loved development board based on the ATmega328 8-bit microcontroller. At 16 Mhz, 32 kB flash, and 2 kB RAM it actually specs out better than my first computer (a Timex ZX-81).

Next up the stack is a motor controller shield from Adafruit. It is a bit overkill, since it can control up to 4 motors at once using two L293D H-bridge chips. I'm only using one to power the train at 12VDC using 2 KHz pulse-width modulation. It connects to the layout using an CAT-5 LAN cable via a RJ-45 socket. I'm bringing in 12V for the controller and 5V for the microcontroller in here.

This proto board is just a stop-gap measure to get the rest of the connections (turnout controls and sensor inputs) from the layout. I should be able to combined it to get rid of one layer in "the stack", but for now it works.

Here is the top of the stack. I designed the board using Eagle CAD and had it manufactured by BatchPCB. It has a surface mount CD4067 analog multiplexer to light the LEDs to show the turnouts and throttle. It has given me no end of grief, and needs a redesign. Perhaps the best feature of the board is the Wii Nunchuk interface on the lower left. Even that needed some jury-rigging to get to work.

The turnout controllers, the sensors, sensor multiplexer, and the 5V power supply are all on the underside of the board and discussed elsewhere. What a mess. But it works. For now.

Video tour of the setup.