197908 – Wilkinson – Microprocessor Development on Westrail

Paper describes the development work by Westrail on a microprocessor base route setting CTC system with controller operation via a keyboard/display console. Advantages includes reduced capital cost, ease of operation, adaptability to stagework and some self-diagnosis of faults. A small engineering task force as allocated for investigation and design of a working system. Development system used included central processor unit (CPU) and memory, visual display unit (VDU) dual disc drive unit, printer, EPROM programmer and U.V. eraser.

Information is provided on the various hardware components and software facilities and the design philosophy followed. Further development work on computerised track data acquisition and fault reporting is in course