Comment Greetings from TMRC (Score 2, Informative) 164
Our own layout is fully computer controlled, and can be operated over the internet (though for practical reasons, we don't let people run it through our web page, and probably never will). That includes over 600 feet of track divided into 120 independent blocks and 151 electrically operated turnouts. This control system was installed in January 2002, replacing an earlier system built in 1966 from surplus telephone relays.
Speaking from firsthand experience, there are a couple of problems with allowing general remote operation of trains (as opposed to running in small loop of track). The first is that it is hard to tell where the ends of the train really are relative to turnouts, block gaps, the ends of sidings and other things you don't want to run into. While we have block occupancy detection, it isn't good enough to park a train somewhere and be sure that you aren't fouling another track.
The other big problem is that you still need to have somebody there to deal with derailments. This isn't a big issue for a small loop of track but is for a larger layout like ours. Video from an onboard camera isn't much help either since it only shows one end of the train and may not be clear enough to spot gaps and turnout positions.
We've tried to let people run our layout remotely at recruiting events, with streaming video from an onboard camera (and someone back at the club room to deal with derailments and the like), but it never quite works right. One problem is that most streaming video systems (we've used Real) have a lot of lag. Even with video conferencing software (iChat) we had trouble with the available bandwidth at the location we were in. There were problems with bandwidth for the control software too, so mostly we could only let people run in a loop of track that they had to themselves which isn't much fun.
You can find information about our control system at http://tmrc.mit.edu/sys3/
Thomas O'Reilly
TMRC Governor
Speaking from firsthand experience, there are a couple of problems with allowing general remote operation of trains (as opposed to running in small loop of track). The first is that it is hard to tell where the ends of the train really are relative to turnouts, block gaps, the ends of sidings and other things you don't want to run into. While we have block occupancy detection, it isn't good enough to park a train somewhere and be sure that you aren't fouling another track.
The other big problem is that you still need to have somebody there to deal with derailments. This isn't a big issue for a small loop of track but is for a larger layout like ours. Video from an onboard camera isn't much help either since it only shows one end of the train and may not be clear enough to spot gaps and turnout positions.
We've tried to let people run our layout remotely at recruiting events, with streaming video from an onboard camera (and someone back at the club room to deal with derailments and the like), but it never quite works right. One problem is that most streaming video systems (we've used Real) have a lot of lag. Even with video conferencing software (iChat) we had trouble with the available bandwidth at the location we were in. There were problems with bandwidth for the control software too, so mostly we could only let people run in a loop of track that they had to themselves which isn't much fun.
You can find information about our control system at http://tmrc.mit.edu/sys3/
Thomas O'Reilly
TMRC Governor
