ESU Automatic Horns With No Movement Until Done Sounding

Even with the plethora of Horn sound slot file tutorials on this blog, the most common request this author receives is to change them so the engine does not move until the horn is finished playing (that's prototypical). Apoorva (The IndianRail Modeler) and I have been working on this together and with his help and input on both the stop signal and some selections within sound files that the author was unfamiliar with, we have it working. This is one of the more complicated projects presented in this blog but it works and it's a relief to have it working. The core of this project lies in the Starting Delay sound slot usually slot #26 shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 Sound Slot #26 Starting Delay

It is recommended that you run this with the simulator to see how it actually works. The Start, Reverse and Stop horn sounds will be added directly into this slot but there are several things you have to know for it to work properly. They will be discussed. The stumper for the author was getting the Stop signal to function. He was all over the place and none of the tries worked. Then Apoorva demonstrated how easy it was. The author just never looked at it this way.

Let's start with the completed project (figure 2) and we'll break it down into parts as we go.

Figure 2 The completed project

We'll start with the Forward and Reverse signals. First, be certain that with the original Starting delay slot in the Sound Slot properties you have the Unlimited checkbox checked and there is a constant variable of Speed 1 = 0.

The Forward Signal

Add a container named Forward Signal between the two Drivelock states. The entry conditions are Requested Speed > Speed 1 and Reverse = false. The exit actions are tmr1 = SV13. So we are setting timer 1 to the value in SoundCV 13. SoundCV 13 can be viewed on the Sound Slot settings sheet of the Decoder pane. In most (if not all) sound files 13 is a default value. The contents of the Forward Signal container are shown in figure 3.

Figure 3 The Forward Signal

Notice how timer 2 controls not only the length of time the horn sounds (in 1/4 secs. so 2=.5 secs) but also the length of time of the pause between horn blasts (in this case a hard coded value of 6, change it if you like). The select value is entered and changed on the Sound slot settings sheet of the decoder pane (it's the Sound configuration variable). The statement in the comment about mapping all horn states to sound slot #3 is in the author's opinion a stroke of genius by Apoorva. This is done in the State Properties as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 Tying another sound slot to this one

What this does is tie the horn to sound slot 3 so in the event you change the selected horn by changing SoundCV 9, all of the horn states in this sound slot change with it. You don't have to do anything extra!

The Reverse Signal

More of the same here except the entry conditions have the Reverse = false changed to Reverse = true. See figure 5.

Figure 5 The reverse signal

The Stop Signal

Now for the item that caused the author a lot of grief. We'll not get into that but the fact is if the engine got as far as the Drivelock Timer Before Release then it moved and sounded the horn so now you have to sound the stop signal when spd=0. We also have to take into account the Function mapping being still in effect. So to differentiate these two we'll implement a user variable. A value of 1 means the function is still active so when spd=0, sound the stop horn. Shown in figure 6.

Figure 6 The stop signal

Again, nothing new. Prior to the stop horn sounding there is a delay state that allows for a short delay until the stop horn actually sounds. It consists of playing the silence.wav file a number of times. Look at the state properties in figure 7.

Figure 7 The delay state properties

Adjust the delay by changing the Min and Max numbers equally up or down.

Summation

• You do not have to worry about mapping this in the Function Mapping sheet of the Decoder pane. Since it is already mapped with 'Stop, F8, not F15' you're good there.

• Do not uncheck the Starting Delay on the Driving characteristics sheet of the Decoder pane. That will prevent this sound slot file from working properly. If it is unchecked, check it.

• The unlimited checkbox MUST be checked. A quote from Apoorva,

  "The unlimited check box signals to the decoder what to do if a soundslot is interrupted while it’s playing. Interruption could be due to loss of power, hierarchy when too many sounds are simultaneously playing or conditions within the soundslot. If the box is not checked, the user will need to toggle the function button to re-start the soundslot. If it is checked, the decoder will automatically restart the sound".

• Every horn state must be mapped to sound slot 3 or whatever sound slot you have moved the horn pack to, if you have.

Recommendations

• If, and for some sound files that's a big IF, you have an extra soundCV available use it to set and change the values where tmr2 is hard coded to a value of 6 as shown in figures 5 and 6. Say you have SoundCV 14 free. Set it to a value of 6 on the Sound settings sheet. Then change the appropriate transition action lines from tmr2 = 6 to tmr2 = SoundCV14. With this in place you just write decoder data when you change SoundCV 14 (less than 10 secs.).  As is, if you change this value you will have to re-burn the sound file (30 minutes!!).

• As an experiment you could substitute the start, reverse and stop horn files that I detailed here in place of the ones in this article. The author would be interested to know if these work and if they work properly. There's no reason they shouldn't. The only issue with this is if you change the horn you will have to revisit the file and update the horns manually. Mapping the horns to the sound slot will not work in this case.

• If the delay between the start horn finishing and the engine starting to move is more than you prefer, just reduce the value of SoundCV 13 on the Sound slot setting sheet. Remember the engine revs up during this time period though.

• If you have engines that you repeatedly run in a consist it is recommended that you only add this sound slot to the lead engine. All engines that have this added will sound their horns on start and stop. If you want that then fine but the only way to prevent an engine from sounding their horn is to remove the State Properties Mapping shown in figure 4 above. You will have to reburn the file everytime you change things. 

I hope you learn a lot from this sound slot, THIS AUTHOR DID! It somewhat changes the way you think about how sound slots work and how to connect them to other slots and sounds.

Thanks Apoorva for pointing me in the right direction!

Good luck with this everyone but most importantly, have fun!

---

If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.

Digitrax Track Status Light - Which Color Is It Anyway, And When?

The following is from BillyBob Experimenter on the Digitrax-Users groups.io forum and was written about a year ago.

---

When address 0 is being used and it is "stopped", the lamp should look about the same as when address 0 is not being used.

When address 0 is being used and it is "moving forward", as the speed increases, the track status "gets more redish" (or gets more-greenish), with the most-redish (or most-greenish) when Address 0 is at a speed of 99.

When address 0 is being used and it is "moving reverse", as the speed increases, the track status "gets more-greenish" (or gets more-redish), with the most-greenish (or most-redish) when Address 0 is at a speed of 99.

When the "Address 0" feature is disabled, the track status lamp will show as "Amber".  And please note, I LocoNet devices do not support the "address 0" ("Analog loco") feature, and actually turn the command station's feature "off" if they see it turned on!  The OpSw which controls this is typically command station OpSw20; OpSw20=Thrown seems to allow Analog operation via address0;  opSw20=Closed seems to disallow Analog operation.

Be aware that the DCC track signal does not know which direction the loco is going!  If the loco is placed on the rails one way, the loco will run forward when the Track Status is more-greenish, and run reverse when the Track Status is more-redish .  But when put on the rails in the opposite direction, the loco will run reverse when the Track Status is more-greenish and run forward when the Track Status  lamp is more-redish! That's why I said "more-greenish (or more red-ish)" above...

And some DCC command stations display the Track Status in such a way as to be harder to determine the Analog usage.  This is because some command stations and boosters do not have a great "amount of greenishness" and "amount of redishness" for the effect of the "Address 0" speed.  In my experience, the DCS52, DCS210, DCS210+, DCS240, and DCS240+ command stations seem to have this "lower" variance.  This may affect DB210, DB220, DB220Opto boosters, too.

---

If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.  

ESU 5 Single Sound Slot Auto Horn

This is a move in creating a more efficient automatic horn sound slot that combines two slots into one. Eventually this will become a part of a project that will also allow the horn to complete playing before the engine starts to move. There have been many questions to the author about getting this to work so he has finally taken this on and it's a complicated one.

A single start, stop and reverse sound slot file was first mentioned here. The cons, as detailed in that post were taken care of in this new version. Figure 1 shows the general flow of the logic and it's quite simple. The key is everytime the engine starts in motion it will eventually have to stop so tie the stop horn to the start horns and it becomes simpler. 

Figure 1 The general flow

For those of you that have already implemented the auto horns which were detailed here. The forward and reverse horns and also the stop horn (shown in figures 2, 3 and 4) can be merely copied and pasted into the new diagram containers respectively. For those that haven't implemented the horns, it is recommended you do. You'll learn a lot about creating containers and states and saving the finished product to your templates.

Figure 2 The forward horn signal

Figure 3 The reverse signal

Figure 4 The stop signal

Once you have this complete, save it to your templates. The next project up is utilizing it in a slot that plays the horn sounds completely before the engines moves.

---

If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it. 

ESU Autobell WIth Start, Loop and End Files Employed

Originally, this author posted how to employ an auto bell for locomotive starts and stops. That post is here. This is a rather simplistic way of getting the bell to work automatically. It only employs the Loop sound WAV file but it does work. He had every intention of employing all three files (start, loop, end) sometime in the future. Well, we all know how that "future intention" works and here we are three years in the future.

Recently, a reader of this blog who has employed several of the other methologies presented in this blog sent the author an email showing where he could not get the file to work after adding the start and end sound files. So it looks like that time is now.

First of all if you have not followed and implemented the original method mentioned above, it is recommended you do. You will learn a lot of manipulations that you need to know and you will have a basis for building this more advanced form of the auto bell. The really good thing about this exercise is that it can be built completely utilizing the Simulator and not have to be burned to the decoder until we have it correct.

The original project was simple. If the speed was greater than zero, spd > 0, and less than the max speed we selected, spd < SV16, then ring the bell using the loop WAV, otherwise stop ringing. Now the logic gets more complicated. Whereas the bell ringing happened in a simple State located in a Container, that State now expands to multiple states in the Container to hold the additional logic and sound WAVs. The starting container is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 The starting container

  

The complete contents of the container is shown in Fig.2. The Decision state and wait for function are both states. 

 

Figure 2 Autobell with start and stop sound WAVs added

The logic of which sound file to play is determined by using the user1 variable and setting it to either 1 or 0. Anytime it is 1 indicates the start sound should play. Otherwise, depending on the speed which is determined by the spd register obviously and the sound CV SV16, play either the loop sound or the end sound.

Don't forget to check the loop checkbox in the Repeat Playback section for both the Decision State and the Wait for Function state or you will get an error.

Have fun with this one.

---

If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it. 

CowCatcher Magazine's Article on Model Railroad Tariffs

Updated from the May/June 2025 Cowcatcher Magazine this article discusses the effects of the newly imposed tariffs on the hobby.

---

If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.