The Randall Museum in San Francisco hosts a large HO-scale model model railroad. Created by the Golden Gate Model Railroad Club starting in 1961, the layout was donated to the Museum in 2015. Since then I have started automatizing trains running on the layout. I am also the model railroad maintainer. This blog describes various updates on the Randall project and I maintain a separate blog for all my electronics not directly related to Randall.
2020-01-18 - DCC Flag Man
Category RandallI’ve got a set of DCC Flag Man and started using them on the layout, for example here on the siding for Sultan:
A DCC Flag Man protects the entrance of the tunnel siding at Sultan
On the other side of the tunnel, the crew is working on repairs:
They come only with red LEDs. I soldered two with yellow LEDs for a bit more variety, and they evoke for me a brakeman with a normal lantern.
These little DCC Flag Man are also very convenient to test the DCC track for power. We routinely turn off power on the Stockton yard tracks to avoid having engines idling 5 days a week, and often our Saturday Operators tend to forget why a yard train won’t move. I’ve shown them they can use these little flag man to quick check whether a yard track as power -- instead of calling me and tell me that “everything is broken”.