Partially putting everything together

This is an attempt to put all the components together. I chose the front section with the two double slips. Here's how it looks on Anyrail:

It's getting interesting ...

I added a stripboard for the two 1N4001 diodes required for each output of the Lenz LS150. I think each stripboard will carry six sets of two diodes, so each stripboard will be dedicated to one single LS150. Here are two designs; I have not decided yet which one I will go with.

The stripboards are fairly cheap and not easy to cut, so it might make sense to keep the board as one piece and use the space for labeling and securing to the control panel.

For reference, here's the board I bought at MicroCenter: https://www.microcenter.com/product/505440/velleman-eurocard-full-line-fr4

Mine is reference ECL1/2, but it basically the same.

Switch - Part 3 - DCC command of switch motor

I finally got around the DCC control of a switch motor. I use the following components:

• ESU ECoS Command Station - link
• Lenz LS150 - link
• Atlas Master Generator - link
• 2 diodes 1N4001

I chose the solution with the LS150 module because it needs a separate power supply to control the switch motors. Considering the number of switches I have, it might have been too much power taken from the main tracks to power the switches. The only downside I can see is that the Tortoise will relax at the end of throw as it is designed to be used as a stall device and the LS150 cannot keep the power on all the time. 

I followed the LS150 instruction manual and the wiring diagram is fairly easy:

And here's what it looks like in real life:

A couple of details regarding the configuration of the LS150:

• You cannot control the pulse duration from the ECoS; it needs to be configured with the LS150 itself - see below
• In the video, I set the pulse duration to 5 sec; I believe it is a bit too long but it cannot harm the switch motor since it expects to be powered all the time
• The english version of the instruction manual can be found here.

Train detection and identification

To ensure automation, train detection is required. I'm using ESU ECoS Detector: http://www.esu.eu/en/products/digital-control/ecosdetector/ecosdetector/

I wanted to run a quick prototype to make sure I understand how it works before going on the actual layout.

Train detection

The English manual is easily found on the Internet and the wiring is pretty straight forward: one of the tracks is isolated and gets its feed from the ECoSDetector instead of directly from the ECoS Command Station. The ECoSDetector gets a direct feed from the ECoS Command Station.

It is very important to follow 0 is black and is direct to the track, whereas B is read and goes through the ECoSDetector.

Now, it is easy to link the ECoSDetector to the track diagram on the ECoS Command Station by using the icon circled in red below:

When everything is wired up and correctly configured, here is what happens:

The track in red shows that this section is occupied!

Train identification

This is all great, but we actually don't know which engine is on that occupied section. Enters RailCom. Decoders equipped with the RailCom protocol can communicate back to the digital station.

I need to insert a RailCom box on the track diagram on the ECoS Command Station by using the icon circled in red below:

So, same as above, but now with RailCom:

We actually see the name of the engine on the track diagram. Unfortunately, ECoSDetector 50094 has only 4 RailCom inputs out of the 16 inputs. However, ESU offers the ECoSDetector RC 50098 that provides only RailCom inputs, but one module has only 4 inputs: http://www.esu.eu/en/products/digital-control/ecosdetector/ecosdetector-rc/