I'm going to finish my mock up of an F7 cab where I can run trains with a engineer's train cam view. The mock up includes a working throttle and reverser, a train horn, train bell, and locomotive brake that makes an air hiss. Here is the current state of affairs which has been greatly enhanced by the flat screen TV...a Christmas gift from my wife...which will afford me a view from the model train cab. She apparently found a great deal! I made the EMD styled drum control stand years ago and have been reworkng the instrument panel, the brake, the horn and bell. I want to do a neater job behind the scenes with the wiring and placement of the components. It was all a loose mess of wires before. This should be a relatively quick project but putzy. After that I have some other ideas related to this project including putting magnetic couplers on the dummy loco that contains my mini video camera, and I'll need to do some improvements on the backside of some structures that show up on camera...something I hadn't thought of when taking the lazy route of not finishing the parts of buildings that can't be seen while viewing the layout.

I had a previous cab mock up a few years ago using this clunky TV that sat on the cabinet the flat screen is on now. The whole thing took up too much room and got in the way so I eventually dismantled it.
The flat screen really lets me set up a cab without blocking access to part of the layout and just looks cooler anyway!

Not only is the plan to have fun while running a train...I'm hoping to make it part of a two person operations scheme with an engineer and brakeman. More on that later.

Way cool Ralph!!!!

The new version of the "cab" is built around a small entertainment cabinet on wheels we didn't need anymore.


The cabinet was part of the original set up, as you can see in the old picture in the previous post above. The big TV is sitting on it.
The new version affords me more space and isn't in the way.

The first thing I wanted to do was deal with all of the components and cables. There are a lot!

The TV has a power cable and AV cords leading to the minicam receiver.

The minicam receiver has a power cord


The train bell has an old walkman tape player connected to an old set of speakers with a power cord.


The throttle in the cylindrical control stand has a power cord, wires leading to an MRC sound unit, and wires going to an 8 inch speaker.

I need to create a way for all of these parts to be organized, neat, and secure. Sometimes I need to pull the cabinet away from the layout so I don't want any components getting pulled away by power cords, etc.

I plan to work on that today.

I started by building some wooden "cradles" for the components to rest in. These are set in the rear of the cabinet, out of sight.


Once completed I placed each component in its custom made cradle. That's the speakers, walkman, and minicam receiver from left to right. I also gathered the wires to keep them better organized.

Here is the control stand. It contains an MRC power pack with simple mechanical connections to the throttle handle and reverser handle. The power pack is connected to a Tech II sound unit that makes a diesel "burble" sound synchronized with the throttle.


Behind it, and the skirting covering the bottom of the layout, is the newly organized set of wires as well as the Tech ll sound component and power strip now neatly cradled.


I'm still experimenting with speaker baffles. Right now the ice cream bucket and these cardboard tubes seem to help the somewhat iffy sounding diesel "burble" effect sound better...louder, lower toned, etc.

I made the loco brake a few years ago out of assorted electrical and plumbing components. It's a fair representation. It doesn't really affect the operation of the train but it makes an air hiss that I think is fun.


The air hiss sound is accomplished by a very simple set up. A can of compressed air is fitted in two adjustable hose clamps screwed to the door. The wood block I added today helps secure the can more firmly. A cord around the air can trigger tightens when the brake lever is pulled to the right. That's a taut-line hitch for you former Boy Scouts. Most useful knot in the world!

The last thing I did today was to attach the instrument pael to the cabinet. It used to be angled at the top to reflect the prototype but I decided to trim it straight to conform with the bottom of the TV screen.


Once in place I added some wood support for the 1/4 inch thin instrument panel. I took a picture of it after fitting it for size. I need to paint it gray and secure the structure to the cabinet.

Looking good Ralph!

Thanks Tyson!

Here is the train bell switch. I made it from plastic pipe and some other parts I had lying around.


Inside is a rotory switch wired to a small circuit interuptor I made from two small pieces of thin copper sheeting separated by a layer of insulation. Placing this interuptor between the batteries in the Walkman allows me to operate the Walkman remotely.


Here is the switch mounted on the cabinet.

Here is the whole cab mock up, pretty much finished.


I based it on this photo of an F unit cab.


A photo showing how little space it takes up. The former mock up extended a ouple of feet forward of the layout.

Great! Must be a good feeling to sit in your own cab

It IS fun!

Click on the link below to hear the bell and brake

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://youtu.be/yxPVe7exkaA">http://youtu.be/yxPVe7exkaA</a><!-- m -->

That looks great!

That is pretty neato. Tried the video though and it says the video is private... dang it.