Long-Delay Stop Switch

Presettable times for train stops in stations are indispensable if you want to operate your model railway more or less realistically according to a timetable. This circuit shows how a 555 timer can be used with a relatively small timing capacitor to generate very long delay times as necessary by using a little trick (scarcely known among model railway electronic technicians): pulsed charging of the timing network. Such long delays can be used in hidden yards with through tracks, for instance.