Christmas Trains
d. bodnar   revised 12-21-2011

For the last 8 years I have put some sort of train related display in front of our house.  I have put out a scale model of the Duquesne Incline and other setups.  My most frequent display is a trolley that runs on about 25' of track.  It goes back and forth as it navigates the stone railing on our front porch with an extension to go outside of a large column.  Each display runs from December 1st through January 1st.  Weekdays from about 3:00 pm till 9:00 pm and weekend/holidays from 5:00 am till 9:00 pm.

The big challenge is to keep things running day in and day out.  The trolley is by far the most reliable system and uses the PICAXE based controller described here:  PICAXE Speed Controller AC Power Modification.  This AC track powered unit is amazingly reliable!  It has seen zero problems so far this year after operating for 20+ days.

I also have a G-Scale train on the mantle.  It runs back & forth using the BARC controller.  In the two videos you may notice the Christmas Trees in the last car.  They are illuminated with LEDs and are powered using Super Caps so that the LEDs stay on for several minutes after the power is removed from the track.

Video #3
 Here is a video of the mantle train in a darkened room:
(right click on the box below and select Play or click HERE)

Live Web Cam on Trolley

There is a web cam with pan & tilt capability available here:    http://n3enm.dyndns.org:6803/main.htm   The login name is    visitor    and the password is     password.  Feel free to use the controls.  Just avoid leaving it in a scan mode.  Press one of the square "stop" buttons when done. 

Note that the trolley does not run 24/7 - weekdays 3:00 pm  --> 9:00 pm and weekend / holidays from 5:00 am -- 9:00 pm - all EST.

Screen shot from web cam - access it here: http://n3enm.dyndns.org:6801/main.htm

Screen shot from web cam - access it here: http://n3enm.dyndns.org:6801/main.htm