Desktop Train Departure Board

Summary

I’m a railway enthusiast and love the UK Railway Network, and had always wanted to check when trains are gonna arrive at home in a fashionable way. The board, complete with a case and stand, will mimic a real national rail dot matrix display (or maybe even the new LED ones that show more information if possible) and any station on the UK national rail network, as well as London Underground can be displayed. It’s a train nerd’s dream to be able to have their own departure board at home.

Plan

With all the components available, I will use the Raspberry Pi (Zero W or Zero 2 W) to obtain data from Network Rail’s Data Feeds (that I have access already). It requires a bit of programming to link up the device to the data feeds, which (hopefully) shouldn’t be a problem. If the dot matrix version works, I will then try to make a more advaced version with a full LED display that shows more information (e.g. seating info), but that’ll involve a certain degree of graphic designing. Last but not least, I’ll also 3D print a case for the departure board so that it looks like the ones that you can find at any National Rail station. HOWEVER, owing to the long term raspberry pi shortage, the raspberry pi might not arrive in time in Feb to complete the project. If that’s the case, I’ll use my Raspberry Pi 3 that I already have but I’ll try my best to source a Raspberry Pi zero 2 as the 3 version uses a lot more energy.

Budget