The Future of Train Control ?

[PWayman]

Seems to me that radio control in "N" is possible and a logical step to take. Readily used in garden layouts and the larger scales, In "N" the problem of course is size and the availability of radio frequencies which is not very wide. Not a problem at home but carnage could result in an exhibition.
   Nevertheless I see radio as the next step. The size issue has been overcome before, it did not seem possible to fit chips in "N "gauge locos not that long ago.



Bret.

[Snowwolflair]

Seems to me that radio control in "N" is possible and a logical step to take. Readily used in garden layouts and the larger scales, In "N" the problem of course is size and the availability of radio frequencies which is not very wide. Not a problem at home but carnage could result in an exhibition.
   Nevertheless I see radio as the next step. The size issue has been overcome before, it did not seem possible to fit chips in "N "gauge locos not that long ago.



Bret.

Too complicated.  You can use 2.4Ghz with lots of bandwidth and very small size receivers but there are two issues.  Firstly you have to pair the Tx to the Rx otherwise you would have to have a way of programming thousands of channels, fine on the Tx but impossible on the Rx.  Secondly, as you are feeding power to the loco, batteries will never be an option in N, then why not send the radio control waveform over the rails.  Oh but that is what we do with DCC already 

[njee20]

Agreed. Batteries yes. Radio control no.

I also disagree that 'the youth' just blindly want technology and that has any bearing on the match of technology. There is technology for the sake of it. Railway modelling will always be a very tactile activity, and whilst I'm sure automation will continue to become cheaper/easier/more versatile I see no reason to just add gimmicks because 'it's what young people want', nor do I see that happening.

[Railwaygun]

pass me the Tinfoil hat!

[Madann01]

  It's here, just watched video on DCC supplies web site showing the Gameson voice control system, kinda makes my original post a bit redundant :'( for those that think it will never happen or don't want it to happen Too late

[Snowwolflair]

  It's here, just watched video on DCC supplies web site showing the Gameson voice control system, kinda makes my original post a bit redundant :'( for those that think it will never happen or don't want it to happen Too late

In my engineering lab I had a big poster with KISS on it standing for Keep It Simple Stupid

Need I expand on the idea of voice control.

[grumbeast]

well I work in a highly digital environment, and when I go home all I want is Analog.  I reserve my conversations for actual people not boxes.  Spent my youth as an AI researcher and now think its an incredibly stupid idea (not AI itself.. but the fact its developed and used by people.. reason enough not to do it!).  As for my model railway, I think for a lot of people its an incredibly tactile hobby, its seems silly to me to spend so much time hands on building and then change paradigm entirely when you want to run a train.  We might see more people embrace a more analog approach to the hobby, the same way there's been a rise in Boardgames and Tabletop games despite videogames being so huge. 

[Newportnobby]

I notice no one has mentioned telekinesis yet, although I'd have grave concerns about my own brainwaves
BTW - will those who believe in telekinesis raise my hand?

[Madann01]

I notice no one has mentioned telekinesis yet, although I'd have grave concerns about my own brainwaves
BTW - will those who believe in telekinesis raise my hand?

Oh I'm sure we have all had some telekinesis thoughts over the years .....".move you #%c&%q useless pile of junk!!! Comes to mind.
Never works though, ill try now All put your hands up 

[railsquid]

well I work in a highly digital environment, and when I go home all I want is Analog.

This. I spend all day doing computery stuff and the last thing I want to do in my spare time is end up debugging my hobby because the cloud server I now rely on to control my trains is unreachable, or there's some weird driver compatibility issue or software regression.

I reserve my conversations for actual people not boxes.  Spent my youth as an AI researcher and now think its an incredibly stupid idea (not AI itself.. but the fact its developed and used by people.. reason enough not to do it!).  As for my model railway, I think for a lot of people its an incredibly tactile hobby, its seems silly to me to spend so much time hands on building and then change paradigm entirely when you want to run a train.  We might see more people embrace a more analog approach to the hobby, the same way there's been a rise in Boardgames and Tabletop games despite videogames being so huge.

And vinyl

I think voice control is akin to home automation - while home automation can be done, and many attempts have been made over the years, apart from possible specific applications (one example would be assistance for people with disabilities as mentioned earlier) 999 times out of a 1000 it's probably easier to get up and close/open the curtains, switch the light off and on etc. , and you are guaranteed not to need to waste valuable hours and days of your life faffing around installing and maintaining the system, then going through the same process a few years down the line when the manufacturer has launched an entirely new system incompatible with your existing one and has dropped app support for the old one because they want more of your money.

[Bealman]

Very valid arguments, grumbeast and railsquid. Agree with both of you.

My layout is a mass of spaghetti underneath and switches and buttons everywhere on the panels, but I designed and did it all myself, and enjoy flipping those switches and pushing those buttons!

[Snowwolflair]

[Madann01]

After reading your posts I am beginning to realise what I want out of building my new layout, the answer enjoyment doesn't. matter how I end up getting my train to move as long as I get enjoyment doing it no one will ever see my layout apart from myself and a few family who wouldn't know the difference anyway  feel a little sorry for the yougsters of today as by the time the get freedom and lets face it the money to build a layout (most of us I imagine struggled until the kids flew the nest and the mortgage paid off) They may not have any option apart from technology.

Would be quite interesting to find out  how many new club and larger exhibition layouts are digital and how many are anolologue??
 

[railsquid]

Very valid arguments, grumbeast and railsquid. Agree with both of you.

I should point out I'm not arguing against DCC itself (I'm sure there's a thread or two about that somewhere ), but the "let's make everything a smartphone app which requires a working internet connection to the cloud" tendency one finds increasingly in many areas. Anyway getting a bit off-topic here, I'll return to my cave .

[railsquid]

After reading your posts I am beginning to realise what I want out of building my new layout, the answer enjoyment doesn't. matter how I end up getting my train to move as long as I get enjoyment doing it

Now that's the main thing