Trackside Cabinet

thingiverse

This is a Hall Sensor mount with track side cabinet to help automate a Garden Railway. The sensor fits standard 45mm Gscale track. The main picture shows the design with the track-side cabinet, but there is also a simpler version without the track-side cabinet. The electronics is a NodeMCU, which fits in the cabinet, and has a HALL sensor fitted in the centre of the track. When a loco with a suitable magnet passes over the sensor, it sends a signal to the railway controller to indicate that the line is occupied. I have used a hall sensor as it should be reliable, although it will need good sealing from rain etc. I have used 25mm circular magnets mounted on the locos with epoxy, but other magnets will work. Be sure to have the hall sensors all in the same orientation, and that all the magnets are correctly oriented to activate the sensors. I would now (2020) suggest using just the Hall mount and placing the electronics in an alternate cabinet/ building. I now use Rocrail "WIO" software and hardware. (https://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=arduino:wio-en&s[]=wio) This video shows the original version running different software.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6bxuHB6rpU