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Turnout (Switch) Control Using Servos and Arduino Nanos - and Building a Control Panel

ACHB Railway

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I add remote control to 6 Peco switches on my HO scale Model Railroad Layout in an area where I hadn't planned ahead to do so.

Servo brackets to mount the inexpensive servos to the bottom of the layout were created with my Elegoo 3D Printer and I also printed a bracket to hold six Arduino NANOs to control the servos.

I came up with a method of adding the control to the Peco switches without removing them from the layout.

A control panel was made using a left over scrap of FRP panel, toggle switches were installed, and red/green two colour LEDs added to indicate switch/turnout position.

I create a wiring harnesses to connect everything using lengths of CAT 5 network cable.

Budget remote control.

For a good video of how to program the Arduino, refer to this one by ‪@WhiteRiverLine‬ (I created my version using his Sketch as a starting point):
Building Switch Machines From Servos for M...

Jimmy ‪@DIYDigitalRailroad‬ also has a good video about doing something similar:
Basic Arduino Servo Control for Model Rail...

#modelrailroad #modeltrain #arduino

16 Comments

@kge420 1 year ago

I’ve started this project a while back and put it on the back burner. Thanks for the timely video.

@kegboy12 1 year ago

Very good explanation. Thanks!

@peterdegraff8032 1 year ago

thank you most appreciated

@KandWRailroader 1 year ago

Great subject to cover about things we don't necessarily think about in the planning stages, or even after the track is down. Sometimes it just takes further scene development as you mentioned to realize how things may not work as well as we like. I'm sure this will help others that haven't reached this stage yet. Good video!

@larrybaughman618 1 year ago

🤠👋🚂🗯

@JerseyBill-x9r 1 year ago

The advice was all excellent but the real help to me was the use of FRP board to mount the LEDs and electrical switches to in red and black. I do like the separate Arduino for each turnout because it lessens the brain work needed. That was one hell of allot of work so take a rest Rainer and have a beer, lol. Jersey Bill

@nutball7537 1 year ago

Well done - that's a really impressive result! Very similar to what I intend to do with my little shelf layout, but I will probably go the route of using 1 controller (nano/arduino or ESP32) with the board that can drive multiple servos (PCA 9865, I believe). I really like the use of the bi-color LEDs - that is also how I plan on making the control panel.

@almarr4942 1 year ago

I have 1 turnout on arduino works good will do more

@kge420 1 year ago

A bit off topic.
I have four books by Greg NcDonnell on Canadian railroading. Algoma Central makes a few appearances. If you’re at a train show and see any of his books on this subject pick one up. Beautiful photography.

@rcav8r2 1 year ago

You may want to add a line of code in there to turn off the servo after it toggles or the servo will always be drawing power. Even a slight bit more if it is over driven. Also need to turn on before moving again. Basically turn on servo port, delay, move servo, delay, turn off port. One servo is no big deal, but with a bunch it can add up quickly, and those cheap servos will last longer.
I made a box using a nano that tells you the pulse width of the position of a servo. Hook it up to the turnout servo you are controlling and take the readings for open/closed to use in your sketch. PM me if you want the code and schematic.

@Crookedriverandeasternrr 1 year ago

I have a couple turnouts that I could use this for.

@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-james 1 year ago

Rainer very interesting project, at the moment I am using Walthers switch machines. Think they use a very similar system to control them, something that I might try in the future, but great job

@jamesbraxton6132 1 year ago

little forgotten thing of leds they like the resistor on the + side. You could have used 1 for all those leds.

@kge420 1 year ago (edited)

Would you share the STL for the servo and arduino mounts?

@majortomtogc 1 year ago

Where did you install the Arduino bank?

@WindmillJunction 1 year ago

Nice solution with the s.steel wire Rainer, i made same mistake, not drilling ahead of the game, have to find a solution for regular atlas switches on arduino, why did you decide to use single nano's instead of a uno ?