Hello,

I'm about to add a few of the Marklin Circuit Tracks to my layout for train detection. I know this track can detect direction of the locomotive as the shoe hits the toggle switch on the track. Each direction has a separate wire to connect each to a separate input on the S-88.

My question is, can Train Controller determine the direction of the train, and can I set up separate stop and brake in each directions in a block? This way I could just connect the wires together from each direction of the track and save and input on my S-88.

Hope this make sense.

I would love to hear any thoughts or experience.

Thank you very much!

Hello Garben,

There is no need for "direction dependent" gizmos in TC. Train detection via various methods (in your case Circuit Tracks) is just a means to send a signal to TC that something is at a specific location on your layout. When you start TC, it knows the location of all rolling stock on the layout (how it does that is another topic). From that point on, when anything moves on the layout under control of TC (i.e., not via some remote, non-interfaced, manual control), TC will track the movement and display that rolling stock on your Switchboard. When you create Blocks in TC, you have to assign "Brake" and "Stop" markers in each block (note: if you don't, then TC will create its own -- another topic). Those "Brake" and "Stop" markers are direction dependent and you can specify distances, approach speeds, etc. It's hard to explain everything in one little paragraph and as Pederbc stated -- it's best to read the manual. However, that's also not easy and the best way forward is to experiment. That's how I started -- you can't hurt anything in TC by experimenting!

If you have specific questions, I'll always try to help out.
Cheers,
Andry

I looked initially didn't find anything and I assumed it wouldn't talk about connecting the two wires from a Marklin Circuit track to one port on a S-88. I will take another look.

Thanks.

Hello Peder and Norbert,

I'm not sure why "Flagmen" are required at all. Maybe we're talking about different versions of TC -- I use TC Gold (Ver. 9)... Also, I'm not sure why you would not tie together the two inputs from the Circuit Track thus providing one s88 input? As long as TC tracks a train, it knows exactly where that train is, in which direction it's heading, and at what speed that train is going.

When a train travels on the layout, TC will clear a previous block when the next block is reached (i.e., the triggering of Contacts sequentially throughout a train's travel path). Also, TC reserves blocks ahead of the train's path to ensure smooth running. If a block ahead of a train can't be reserved, TC will automatically slow a train down and will stop it nicely before the occupied block is reached. All that is required is for each block to have a "Brake" marker and a "Stop" marker in EACH direction of travel. If no "Brake" markers exist, then TC will use the "Stop" marker as "Brake & Stop", thus trains will stop abruptly.

There is actually no real requirement to have multiple "Contact" tracks because TC is really good at knowing where trains are, but it does help to have at least one "Contact" track per block in order to help the software. (I've had instances where TC would "forget" where a train is.) Keep in mind that each "Brake" marker and each "Stop" marker have a multitude of settings that you can specify. These are things like how long should a train "ramp up" or "ramp down" its speed before coming to a crawl; specifying a precise "Stop" position; etc. Also, each of these markers can be applied to all trains, to some trains, or to a particular train. Markers can also be specific to certain schedules or to no schedules as well.

Sorry for this long-winded explanation and I might be completely wrong on some account due to my limited knowledge of TC. I only ever used the Gold version, so please keep this in mind if your version is different. Also, please note that in the past (early version of TC), "Flagmen" were required because "markers" were very limited. However, with the newer versions of TC, "Flagmen" are only used for very specific actions -- again, just my opinion (and I might be wrong).

Cheers,
Andry

This really clear explanation helps! I wasn't quite sure how it worked. I would see the loc activate the momentary sensor in a block and it would only turn "pink" for an instance on screen, and I didn't know if TC would now realize that the block is still occupied while my loc traveled in the block. But your explanation above makes sense. So I can lock it in my thick head... TC will think a block is occupied once a sensor in that block is activated, and keeps the block occupied until the next block/sensor in its path is activated?

I currently use TC 10 Gold.

I watched one of Rudy's videos on Flagman which I thought was helpful.


Thanks for all you help.

Norbert

P.S. I've been able to successfully set up some stop and ramps etc. to get locs to stop all within a cm or so of each other so I must be doing something right with profiling. Thanks for your help with that.