THE METRO IS RUNNING!

Finally! After months and months or planning, building, delaying and so on, we have activity on Quinntopia again! Whoohoo!

Here are some 'action photos'...

On the girder section approaching the station...

On the high extension over the main railway right of way....

Another angle...this portion of the structure was complicated to build as each of my elevated sections is meant to come apart, and also need to be level, stable and look good (while also allowing for four or five tracks below!)

 This shot sort of shows the entire loop. Ultimately you won't be able to see the entire loop as much of it will be blocked by buildings!

While much of the time was spent trying to figure out how to scratch build an elevated trestle system, an equally large share of time (and money!) was spent trying to figure out how to automate DCC equipped trains so that they automatically stop, wait, and then depart from the station.  The solution to that problem came from the Viessmann 5208.  This is an automatic timer unit that connects to insulated rails (a total of four blocks) and allows for automatic detection, stopping and then acceleration.

I was curious about how this unit would work with my Digitrax DZ-125 Equipped Kato Ginza Line Metro, and it does seem to work just fine! Although the 'crawling' section' portion does not feature the deceleration proposed in the items feature lists, which may be due to the decoder (more on this later). These units are not particularly cheap (about $80) and will only operate on one track, but compared to  upgrading to a Z21 or Viessmann Commander or ESU ECOS, these are much more affordable options at this time.

Now that I've proven I can get train automation to work, I need to get a second 5208, another 'metro' train (I debate whether I should go for an identical or similar Kato Ginza, or something a bit more 'vintage' looking...any suggestions?) so that the elevated line has real 'action' with two trains running in opposite directions!

Then I can finish the station - platforms, roof, lighting (you can see the electrical leads for my eventual lighting of the station interior in the video!) and then start mapping out streets and building placement! And then, and THEN...its on to laying down track for the 'main' railway lines!