January/February 2007: Installing Logic Rail Technologies SAD-3 signal animators on the Juniata Division!
I added 4 Logic Rail Technologies signal animators to the mainline position light signals; two at LEW tower and two at M tower. The product description from the manufacturer's website (http://www.logicrailtech.com/) tells it all:
"When the train covers the photocell (included) the signal turns red. When the train clears the photocell the signal turns yellow after a delay (10 or 30 seconds, selectable). After another delay the signal turns green."
Of course, on the Pennsy we don't use red/yellow/green, but we use position lights. That's OK, because the SAD-3 does bulb-style position lighting such as the NJ International signals I used! Even better is that they will even support the two horizontal red-style absolute stop aspects such as were installed on the Pennsy after World War II and I've used at Lewisport. They require no special track wiring; in fact, they operate independent of the track. No block wiring necessary! I selected the 10 second delay.
Click on the images to enlarge:
They come in neat little boxes with everything you need
but wire.
Tough decision... You're going to have to drill
through the layout to mount the photocell:
I soldered extra wire to the photocell and covered it with shrink tubing, since
my layout base is over 3" thick (foam plus door).
There! All done! Well, not quite...
We still need to mount and wire the circuit board...
The wiring diagram included with the instructions is very
clear. Clearer than my layout wiring, anyway... The gray 14 AWG bus
wires are my signal bus. They run off the old Tech II power pack you see
there. I use the DC throttle to control the signal brightness. This
avoids the need for resistors. Here you see (among other stuff like track
bus, cab bus, signal wires, etc.) the two SAD-3 boards for the East Mifflin
signals.
Now, we're truly done. See? A little
ballast and weathering, and you hardly notice the photocell at all!
The result? Happy railroaders, who now feel safer that the signals actually indicate track conditions ahead! Here my son Jake takes the TT-1 TrucTrain through LEW Interlocking with confidence, having been given a clear home signal:
Wanna see how they work? Here are two videos (link to YouTube):
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