Event Details
Location: Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh PA
Date: Jan 18 & 19, 2025
Time: 10am - 4pm both days
Admission: With General Admission to the Science Center
Sponsor: Carnegie Science Center
We have been invited to participate in the Carnegie Science Center's "Locomotion Weekend" — more details on the Science Center's website: https://carnegiesciencecenter.org/events/locomotion-weekend/
Some stats related to this show:
- The Science center had over 6,000 people come threw the doors on Saturday and Sunday.
- 22 people brought a total of 73 modules in the layout!
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- 12 Corners & Junctions
- 85 SME (Single Module Equivalents)
- 4 independent loops (two DCC and two DC)
- 369.9 feet of track (11.2 "scale miles") based on T-TRAK planning software
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With our 4 loops, we dedicated one loop to be our "Junior Engineer Loop". This was set up with a dedicated controller that kids and kids-at-heart could use to control the train on that loop. And with the passing siding in that loop, and with a little assistance from an ICNS member, we allowed kids to decide which of two trains they wanted to drive.
- The controller was made up of 3 elements - Engine Driver app on a cell phone, a bluetooth speaker to play the engine sounds, and a USB volume knob to make it easy for little kids to speed up/slow down the train.
- Engine Driver app provided the sounds (it is part of that apps features)
- The app also has a number of "kid friendly" settings —- so for example we were able to put a max speed limit — so no matter how much the kid turned the knob or pressed the "speed up" button, it would not exceed 60% .
