Block Detection - Fully On-Line!

In another major milestone, this one thanks largely to the help of Nick, I can announce that all 33 detected blocks on the Onondaga Cutoff are fully linked to the computer and the dispatcher's screen.  While work remains to equip each car on the railroad with the resistive wheelsets necessary for the detection to trip, the system itself is where it needs to be.  Take a look!

Nick built all the signals in to the CATS software, which runs with JMRI to control the signals in a CTC fashion.  The software is now essentially ready to be linked to the signals themselves, but first we need to get the interlockings converted from their current analog control boards to digital controllers, which are stationary DCC decoders designed to control 8 turnouts or pairs of turnouts each.  The interlockings are the next major project, but for now, it's fun to see trains 'routed' (green lines) across the railroad on the screen, and more fun to watch the track occupation lights (TOL's, the red lines) flash in as the system detects the train on the track. 

Exciting progress!

~RGDave