What a year 2020 has been! Despite, or maybe because of, being home more, very little, if any, railroad modeling took place.
Some key things came together this year and I was able to start on a key project underpinning many of the aspects of the design I've had in mind for a while now.
First up, Blue Ridge Engineering developed and released electronics that enable direct xBee interaction with Iowa Scaled Engineering's ProtoThrottle, so no separate DCC system is needed. DeadRailInstalls makes battery power kits to provide power for the whole shebang.
The entire setup then looks like this:
(image courtesy of BlueRidge Engineering)
In my world, the electronics then all go inside the cavernous body of a mid-naughts-era Atlas MP15DC:
(mine's currently undecorated, but will look like a grimy version of this)
Currently, it's disassembled and I'm waiting on parts and track from Right-O-Way to re-gauge it to Proto:48 standards.
To be determined is selection of a decoder -- I'm thinking LokSound V5, mainly because of their standalone programmer that will keep me DCC-system free -- and sound components that fit in the fuel tank.
I might also remotor it as well depending on the amp draw and / or noise of the Atlas motor; we'll see as the project comes together.