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Bob Truax’s Great Northern - Old Goat Division
The GN Old Goat Division is a full-basement HO layout based upon the GN mainline and branchline operation during the 1940s and 50s with breathtaking scenery and exquisite detail throughout. Bob’s unrelenting attention to detail all carries over to the C/MRI installation which is a piece of art. The interface wiring is extremely neat with everything in its proper place. Bob started out using the C/MRI for signaling as well as for Computer Cab Control (CCC). He wanted exquisite prototypical sound in all his custom painted GN steam engines and at the time the only real choice was PFM sound...
Lee Nicholas and his Utah Colorado Western
Lee’s outstanding Utah Colorado Western has been featured numerous times in the model press as well as in Great Model Railroads video tape #27. He is also a great proponent of the C/MRI system including holding seminars on the subject as well as sponsoring extremely popular operating sessions attended by prototypical oriented operators from all around the US. Train control is by Rail Lynx providing a direct IR link between each walkaround throttle and the engine(s) being controlled. UCW operator Jon Robinson is the brains behind the C/MRI installation. Prior to the adopting the C/MRI, Jon spent hundreds of hours...
Ed Crone and his Automated Operation
Thanks to the egging of Paul Cesak, another ling time C/MRI user and User’s Group participant, Ed has achieved something that he had always though was a pipe dream. He’s used the C/MRI to develop a fully automated system that runs up to four trains simultaneously with three doing coupling and uncoupling routines. Once Ed flips the switch he can stand back and watch the trains in operation. The sequence takes about 20 minutes and includes around 24 coupling and uncoupling moves. Ed states that, “Over the years I have come to appreciate the flexibility of the C/MRI and what...
Rick Rideout's L&N Henderson Subdivision
Rick Rideout, the owner of Rick's Products, is one of the original C/MRI Users. He started out with the original UBEC approach using the very original design I/O cards using the 8255 ICs. Rick reports that, "After diving into the C/MRI implementation, I just couldn't believe how straightforward the application became. Set up one OS section all the rest are identical except for a few number changes." To top it all off, the system works today as good as the day it was installed nearly 15 years ago. Besides being tied into the CTC panel and controlling the trackside signals,...
Nick Kulp and his Cornwall Railroad
Nick's HO scale 48' x 24' Cornwall Railroad represents an 8 mile Industrial Shortline in Lebanon County PA that hauls iron ore from the oldest open-pin iron ore mine in the US; operating continuously for 272 years until Hurricane Agnes flooded the pit in 1972, closing the mine. The Cornwall Railroad interfaces with both the PRR and the Reading. Time frame is early 1950s. Nick and his crew currently use the C/MRI to control 64 signals of 3 different types: Reading 3-color "cat-faced" signals, PRR position light, and Semaphores for the Cornwall. The layout is divided into 45 signal blocks. The interface has been upgraded in...