CTC at the most elemental level

Hi Marker,

Yes, you are correct in your assessment of the panel switches, the upper switch or lever is for turnout control (Normal or Reverse) and the lower is for signals (some call them traffic switches Left or Right).  Then below those switches can be other smaller special application switches but it is the “Code Start” button at the bottom that is actually what initiates the process of attempting to line the wayside switches and signals based on the settings that the upper switches are requesting.  In a real CTC environment, the actions of the CTC panel are to make “requests” to do something in the field, e.g. throw a switch in an interlocking plant, etc. but it is the field logic that actually allows those requests to be acted upon via turnout position, electric locks, and block occupancy feedback.   In the model railroad world, this logic is either housed in circuit boards that are programmed with this logic or via computer software (home brew or JMRI), such as Bruce Chubb’s C\MRI system.  Bruce has both the electronics and application handbooks that go very in depth on various types of mode railroad signal applications (CTC, ABS, DTC)  http://www.jlcenterprises.net/Applications.htm.  If you are really interested, his applications handbooks are an excellent source of knowledge for describing the various types of signal systems and how they can be applied in a model environment.  Obviously, they contain references to using his C\MRI system to recreate those signal systems in miniature but there is also a lot of prototypical and model signal system content in these books.

Here’s another site that provides the basics of CTC that is very informative:

http://www.ctcparts.com/about.htm

Scott K.

Austin, TX

Thanks Scott.  I am interested and will look into the application handbooks and the ctcparts.com website.

Howard