Automatic Colour Light Signal Operations

[ScottyStitch]

Hopefully this is the right place to post this.

I need some advice prior to me starting to lay track from my fiddle yard. I have three scenarios that I'd like light signals to be automatically changed in:

1 - As a train leaves the fiddle yard on the up line, I want it to activate a signal, which is quite a bit further up the track, (14ft) from red to green. I want the signal to stay green until the head of the train has passed it, and then it defaults to red again. I want it to stay red until the next train exits the fiddle yard.

2 - I have seven possible tracks that a train can leave the south end of my station from, each will have it's own coplour light signal that defaults to red, and the operatore will manually switch to green. There are two possible routes the train can leave the area by, the up and the down main line, I want whichever signal i've activated to return to red only after the the train has exited the pointwork and is pathed through EITHER the up or the down mainline.

3 - At the north end of the station, there are again seven tracks that a train can depart from, and again each will have it's own signal that defaults to red. I want to be able to manually switch any of the signals to green, and then have it default to red once it has passed the signal.

On paper, I am thinking that at least 1 and 3 are reasonably simple, in principle. My question is, what products are available commercially that will allow me to achieve all these scenarios?

I'd rather not have to construct my own projects to do this, as I have enough to do on the layout as it is, and time is at a premium.

Many thanks, as always for all and any advice.

Scotty

[sparky]

Have a look at Everard Junction on You Tube....a really good video on auto switching 2 3 and 4 aspect lights is this months update.

[Newportnobby]

Heathcote Electronics also do infra red detection for signals...........

http://www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk/