New magic control system for model railroad ... is this a scam?

[rrinker]

Also - your day job is playing with a model railroad? How do I get a job like that? I mostly work remotely anyway, so I've been little affected work-wise with the whole virus thing, so i can't just sneak off to the basement all day.

When I started this job (2011) there was quite a bit of playing, but with time my responsibilities shifted towards the back end. My defacto job is finding solutions to everyday problems we encounter while building and operating the layout (mostly electronics and mechanical devices), but I do occasionally get to play with trains and build stuff.
As to how do you get a job like that, well in my case it started with a chance encounter. You know, the good old "being in the right place at the right time". Knowing (at that time not very well) the owner who was about to start the project and was in need of help, helped too.
If you are serious about this, there might be something around your place. There aren't many commercial model railroad layouts/exhibits out there, and I guess clubs don't have staff on payroll, but there are quite a few businesses that provide model building services (trains/architectural). If you're up for a career change, perhaps look into that?

 Well, I already belong to one club. I know some of the others around the area. I know some custom layout designers, but I don;t personally know any of the few layout builders around.
Would be something to think about for retirements, I;m not really looking for a major career move at this point, not to mention there's no way designing and building the electronics for custom model railroads could ever pay what I make now in my IT consultant job. Now if someone could hook me up with Sir Rod Stewart - although he already has a couple of guys to help with the wiring on his layout, and he lives on the opposite side of the US as I do.  Yes, THAT Rod Stewart - he remarked that being on the cover of Model Railroader magazine was a bigger thrill than being on the cover of Rolling Stone. He has a beautiful US style layout in his LA home. Supposedly an equally nice British prototype layout in his London home.

[Haenk]

A bit OT, but until the magic trick is explained, there is this:

https://www.miniatur-wunderland.de

If you ever head to Hamburg (Germany), I'm 100% sure you will like it.

[Domagoj T]

Perhaps there is affordable equipment good enough that if there was a deivce at every feed location, or at least some of them, it could in a way triangulate. On a really large layout there will be multipel power sources as well, with insulated gaps between sections on different power sources. Now, if each section were trivial enough, one of these devices in each section could work for that section and not interfere with the one in the next section.

With this you are quickly approaching the currently common method of using occupancy blocks, for which electronics are quite simple and not too expensive ($30-$40 for a device capable of monitoring 16 blocks).

Well, I already belong to one club. I know some of the others around the area. I know some custom layout designers, but I don;t personally know any of the few layout builders around.
Would be something to think about for retirements, I;m not really looking for a major career move at this point, not to mention there's no way designing and building the electronics for custom model railroads could ever pay what I make now in my IT consultant job.

Tell me about it! I'm in the middle of designing and building a custom control system for an acquaintance and there is no way I can charge him anything near what would be a reasonable wage. I'll cover the cost of material, and be left with enough for a kebab. Yeah, yeah, I'm selling myself low, I know, but building stuff for individuals is not going to bring the bacon home, unless you can find yourself a benefactor who will finance your hobby. On the other hand, we've had a couple of nice commissions for architectural models (not train related), and those were decent contracts. Of course, the customers in those cases were not individuals, but ultimately government facilities. Those guys have the $$$ so they'll pay pretty much whatever you ask, because the market is so small you effectively have a monopoly.

Now if someone could hook me up with Sir Rod Stewart - although he already has a couple of guys to help with the wiring on his layout, and he lives on the opposite side of the US as I do.  Yes, THAT Rod Stewart - he remarked that being on the cover of Model Railroader magazine was a bigger thrill than being on the cover of Rolling Stone. He has a beautiful US style layout in his LA home. Supposedly an equally nice British prototype layout in his London home.

About two years ago he was in Zagreb, so we invited him to come visit our layout, but unfortunately he did his concert and immediately flew to the next place.

[PlainName]

if there was a deivce at every feed location, or at least some of them, it could in a way triangulate

Would it need to? The task isn't to find where a stationary train is, which is where triangulation would help, but where a moving train is. If there are multiple routes for the TDR pulse to take then you'll get multiple reflections, right? But they will be moving reflections, so perhaps from the way they move and some knowledge of the layout it's possible to figure out what reflection relates to which path. If you imagine an oval track but with a reflection from both directions (to keep this simple), you'd see one reflection reducing whilst the other increases as the train moves around the track. The difficulty would be in figuring that this reflection is from that route, but that's where the moving bit comes in - you should be able to say that this reflection is that one we saw just a little bit further away moments ago, and ditto for the other reflections.

It gets to look tricky real fast, but then one just considers things  like phased array radar and it's not that hard for a bit of code

[EEVblog]

Whilst this is technically possible, in practice as others have pointed out it will almost certainly have issues on more complex and bigger layouts.
The demo is almost certainly real and it "works", but that's the world's simplest loop layout.

[EEVblog]

A bit OT, but until the magic trick is explained, there is this:
https://www.miniatur-wunderland.de
If you ever head to Hamburg (Germany), I'm 100% sure you will like it.

I've been there and it's mind blowing!

[lgrfbs]

After having re-watched those videos, it still seems to be a (not quite simple) time/speed/distance calculation, considering further parameters (train weight etc.).
He precalculates/predicts train positions, no more (and no less). I assume this works quite well with digitally controlled trains, but is far from being failproof.
Adding sensors, as might be the case in one video, could help. Not sure, if they are optional, but I can't image how this should otherwise work in a complex layout.

And now it have passed some time and no news on his homepage.
I personally think this product is not real.

[rrinker]

 No problem, I'll know where my trains are using the time-proven system of current detection. It's the only time I use surface mount anything - adding surface mount resistors to the axles of my rolling stock so it can be detected. I could glue on a leaded 1/8 watt jobby, but then it's quite noticeable.

[lgrfbs]

According to the Swedish Forum, there has been some new information on the website.
I am still doubtful that this works for real.

Har någon föjlt det senaste updateringarna av information från Railmagic?
Fler kringprodukter och ribban verkar högt satt.... men än så länge inga detaljer hur det fungerar.
Tidigare release i nov 2020 är framflyttad till början av nästa år och begränsas till EU-länder.
Möjligen kanske några fylken i Norge kommer att betraktas som "gröna" 

http://www.railmagic.com/?i=1

Scrolla ned till "Watch the update"



Autotranslate to:
Has anyone used the latest updates of information from Railmagic?
More peripherals and the bar seems high set.... but so far no details how it works.
Previous release in Nov 2020 is postponed until early next year and limited to EU countries.
Possibly some counties in Norway will be considered "green"

http://www.railmagic.com/?i=1

Scroll down to "Watch the update"

SV: Modelljärnväg, railmagic - 1 Aprill skämt eller?
« Svar #67 skrivet: Idag kl. 20:33:44 »
Det stora problemet som jag ser det är betalningsmodellen: om du har fler än 4 lok måste du, enligt hemsidan, betala för en ny licens varje år för att kunna använda utrustningen. Personligen så avskyr jag när firmor först tar betalt för utrustning och sedan vill klå dig på mer pengar för rätten att använda den, och det skulle aldrig falla mig in att köpa sådana produkter.



Autotranslate to:
The big problem as I see it is the payment model: if you have more than 4 locomotives, according to the website, you have to pay for a new license every year in order to use the equipment. Personally, I hate it when firms first charge for equipment and then want to beat you on more money for the right to use it, and it would never occur to me to buy such products.

Source: https://www.svensktmjforum.se/forum/index.php?topic=23001.new;topicseen#new