April 15, 2013

Controlling model trams with Arduino

 Model railway enthusiast Ken Shores decided to add a small tram line to his model railway layout to add realism for a region of his layout, and has a twin line with three stations, two of which are single-platforms before slip points. As part of operating fun it would be simple to add manual controllers, however Ken instead is developing an automated system based around an Arduino Mega-style board that allows to trams to operate automatically while observing the station stops. With the use of a motor shield for power delivery and directional control and several infrared/phototransistor combinations the Arduino can control the direction of the trams and also detect their position on the layout. 


Although a work in progress, it's a fascinating project and we hope Ken moves forward with his documentation. Check out the project site for this and other interesting readings. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're making things that push an Arduino to the limit, or if your projects outgrow the normal Arduino-compatible boards, running out of program and flash memory space, or you're stacking on Ethernet and microSD shields, or all at once - it's time to upgrade to the Freetronics EtherMega:


Quite simple the EtherMega is the fully-loaded Arduino-compatible board on the market today. Apart from being completely Arduino Mega2560-compatible, it includes full Ethernet interface, a microSD card socket, full USB interface, optional Power-over-Ethernet support and still has a circuit prototyping area with extra I2C interface pins. So if your project is breaking the limits, upgrade to the EtherMega today. 


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