Absolutely fascinating stuff. I think it's everyone's dream to have a operating session on this model. 👍

Fascinating and brilliant in equal measure. Even got a bit of the good old Charlie Bishop jeopardy in there for added entertainment value! :-)

This layout needs to be relocated into a commercial premises charging admission to support your expansion. It's not fair you lot get to play trains in private 😂 Great job boys

Unbelievable.... An amazing layout... Thanks for the updates..

Love to see a video of it sll staffed and in full flow. All in good time

Wow, awsome video. Just amazing what you can do with technology and imagination. Looking forward to the next video

A very proffesional approach to the task in hand. Takes playing with trains to a whole new level. A fascinating watch.

Wow! Very impressive; that Freight Manager screen is so good, fascinating, as usual!

really enjoyable... thank you so much for this channel.... great job

Love what you guys do, to operate a yard like you are going to do is amazing !

Nice layout. Saves a lot of paperwork.

Great use of technology David, well thought out and no doubt well tested. Don’t worry about the uncouplers not working 100%, that will give the shutters some extra work on the night!

Love seeing these updates David. Fascinating stuff. The freight manager screen is really user friendly.

Amazing use of technology!

Superb engineering! You really have cracked that, it's so easy to understand what's going on and what's needed to be done. Showing current position on lhs and target on rhs of assembly tracks banner just couldn't be simpler on that display, all that effort planning has really paid off, so professional, well done. Stephen

This was very interesting. I really liked that we got to see some operation on the new layout. I would definitely like to see more videos of operation in the future.

Hi Dave. I have to say your railway is probably better organised than British Rail. In fact, you're so well organised that you're even wearing autumn coloured trousers which is very appropriate for October.

Outstanding! It truly brings model railroading into the 21st century! I’ve not seen this done on such a scale before. Excellent tool for young people who might be interested in a career in Dispatching and yard management.

Absolutely superb 👍🏻

Taking shape ... wonderful.

Lovely work team. I would love to implement something similar on my layout.

Fantastic. Good to see that you sometimes have to revert to the Hand of God!!

Point a camera at a model railway and you can guarantee it will go wrong. Amazing stuff and I can't imagine how much this lot has cost.

Absolutely fascinating clip, the time and effort you spend planning these yards is amazing and managing to capture it with explanations in a short video is superb. Great to see some trains running, just hope you can get enough operators when fully functional. I think you might need a bigger kettle in the kitchen or maybe an urn 🤫. Keep up the great work.

Terrific

There is now a system called BiDid, bidirectional information between train and digital controller system. The digital controller asks the train where it is and the train responds back to the central controller with it's position. No use of Rfid necessary.

A fantastic layout. I would love a chance to play trains there!

How exciting 👍❤️

Hi David, thanks for this demo, it all looks really good and you and your team have solved a hell of a lot of problems to get there too! The benefits of having a record of where things are on such a large setup must go well beyond the marshalling tasks - for example asset tracking of all your stock and being able to identify individual vehicles in their storage sidings will be very handy when you are running your different era trains for time-machine mode. I would guess that in future you could build on all kinds of inferential data from the RFID sightings. For example by constructing queries about an individual loco, obtaining a list of where was it seen and when you could work out how far and how fast it has travelled and from that, when it should be taken to the workshops for a proactive wheel clean or general mechanical service. Got to beat waiting for things to fail in service and since you're accumulating all that info, why not use it for additional purposes like that! Anyway, great to see you got all this working - and a pat on the back to Charlie for the filming and editing of this fairly complex subject. I'm sure that there will have been manufacturers watching your progress and who knows, in 10-15 years time perhaps all rolling items will come with an RFID tag on them as standard! Best wishes Alan T

Impressive!

Awesome!

Nice to see some realistic freight operation, David. Regarding the labelling of sidings, I've never heard the term "brake van park". More usually it's van siding, van lye (or lie). Often colloquially called the "van kip".

TRUE DREAM LAYOUT WITH LOT OF DETAIL OPERATION

I am terribly impressed, but I wouldn't want to go to this complexity for my layout because it would take away the pleasure of the railway.

Was stood next to you a few times today David, (guy with the red hat on) but didnt want to disturb you, hope you had a good time at GETS and love the vids mate. Eric

Thanks for the great videos. Are you planning (or maybe it already occurs) to have the RFID data communicated with TrainController (I think that is what you are using), so that engine identification is displayed on the switchboard schematic, rather than just an occupancy indication? I think at the time of this video, the RFID data is being sent to / captured by your database / freight mgt software. To all involved in the layout / technology / RFID etc journey, well done, and please keep the videos coming. cheers PS Apologies if I have missed a video that explains this aspect.

Mind blowing, the level of detail you guys have gone to! This is going to keep the operators 'on their toes' so to speak! What happens if after all a wagon turns up at the wrong destination? Is the 'rogue' operator identified and 'pilloried'?

G'Day David. I'm really interested in getting a similar set up here for my self eventually for all of my rolling stock, so I am always pleased to see an update from you guys. Thanks Now I did reply to you request in the other video of yours, but only today as I stated I work away a lot. I'll repost that reply here as well. "David, I have tried over 6 times to give you this information on here and every time YT deletes my reply. I must also apologies for my delay in replying but I work away from home up North of Western Australia on mine sites. I will be heading back again in 4 days time. Ok, think I have it beaten. Goto my channel (nothing there) and under the discussion tab are some links for you." Hope that helps.

McKinley, David. This is just great to see, I for one could watch it all day. On my own very small layout I don't think I need the computer or RFID option's. But with your permission I'd like to borrow your control panel ideas. I also now think I'll place the 2 panel's on the front fascia above the layout. Beside each panel will be a small flat screen showing the actual place in real time. When a train moves in Barstow U.S.A. The same train will run on the layout. By being connected to the the actual dispatcher I'll know if that train is to go to Long beach L.A. or San Diego. All I need to do now is build 2 control panels. Many thanks. Cheers, Chris Perry.

I did moan on a previous video saying will you please run some trains!!!So its fantastic to see some movement on your amazing wonderful railway....I live in Southern Ireland and would love to come over and see your railway 1 day.Would you ever do an open day once its safe todo so?Keep up the goodwork👍👍👍

Bloody impressive. Will be in the UK next May/June, any chance of a look, not as operator [probably a bit above my pay grade] just a look?

Pretty cool. Can your sensor actually detect the travel direction of the train or do you have to keep track of it in the software? Are you planning to do a video on the sensor technology itself?

When everything is up and running are you planning on simulating random train breakdowns or delays to give an extra challenges for the operators? You can’t expect british rail to actually be on time

Hi gents, Very interesting stuff: lots of food for thought with occupancy detection. One thing I would be really interested to know about is how well steam locomotive hauled trains perform on your helix. What is your ruling gradient? Curves within the helix? Maximum train length? All the best, Nick.

Q: have experimented with RFID here, the high frequency ones I think you are using, works fine on some freight stock if kept away from metal ballast weights. have you had luck using them on locomotives or are you only tagging wagons?

I've only recently started watching the progress of McKinley from the beginning so not up to date yet, but the amount of planning and engineering for this layout would put Network Rail to shame. Just a quick question, once you've added scenery and ballast how do you identify the location of the uncoupling points in the yards. May I suggest a realistic solution, which is 3 yellow painted sleepers, these are to denote fouling points usually but the idea has been used for decades and would blend with the scenery and be a good visual indicator for operators. Not sure how feasible that is with the uncoupling magnets you use. Anyway, keep up the fantastic work and look forward to watching the ongoing progress.

Hi David, I live in NZ and struggling to find decals with basic numbers for doing the same thing as you. Can you recommend a supplier please?

"If Carling did model railways"

My brain hurts.

I don't know if you are going to do this but I got a crazy idea. Why not have a scanner at the entrance and exit of the yard and a hand held scanner and all the equipment has bar codes on it so you know what have left the yard and what is coming back into the yard and use the hand held scanner to setup the next train to get ready to move out. Also it would keep inventory on all your equipment. Now watch this is probably what you are talking about.

Bloody brilliant but have you ever thought that you have gone too far with it ?

David, Re.: McKinley's magnetic couplers, "The best laid plans of mice and men....." But I do have a question about those coupler switches. Do you have any sort of brand name or ID number for those backlit switches? I'm certain they are a UK product. I'm equally certain I could, with your help, find a like switch here in the US for my layout. As I rehab my layout I'm making limited purchases of RFID for high traffic areas. Currently I use QR readers at stock yard headends only. Then yard switchers need to manually up date the traffic managers software. About as aggravating as a disagreeable uncoupler. Great job to you and your team... including that guy 📸 from Chadwick.😏 Jim N.Y., U.S.A.

Very nice. I'm looking to use RFID on my 'N' scale track. What type of readers do you use. And also are the tags used usable for N scale?

Sorry if you have stated elsewhere, but how many coaches do you use in your passenger trains? Based on the size of your frieght trains I assume 10

This is more-or-less what Deutsche bahn in Germany use to train their signal operators. This is a great video on the training layout: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bLp8lsR7ydm2omQ.html

which software do you use?

Greetings from Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge Model Railway. I am looking at ways we can upgrade our railway with RFID technology similar to your system. A preliminary planning session called for 550 RFID antennas, which seems excessive. Is there a way I can contact you about your RFID system? I looked on your website but the contact us page appears to be broken.

So that's part of what you are doing but the one more step is to control your inventory.