Like an upside down I am - all furious activity on top but little forward movement - an probably drowning as well! These fiddle yards are just eating time and am starting to think of extreme measure to get them finished so I can move on to other important matters before Nottingham. Finally got the new board joint into the new fiddle yard board sorted, was far from easy trying to work around the buildings without further destruction. The big doorway in the barn was very handy as was able to pass a razor saw blade through it.

Track and points are finally down on the larger of the two fiddle boards and much time has been spent wiring it all up. Partly my own fault as I insist on doubling up the wiring to the Cobalt motors as they have solder terminals and push ins. As I don't trust my soldering and I trust the push terminals even less belts and braces are in order!

Here is the smaller of the two boards now also tracked but also the scene of one of my time saving initiatives. I intended to put in a small traverser at the end for loco run around but am just going to have to do without this for now.

Final part of the wiring if the small extra control panel for each end. I borrowed a bit of the diagram from the main panel and adapted it in PhotoShop then printed it, laminated it and then mounted on aluminum sheet. In the pic they are just cooking a bit on the radiator to cure the spray mount glue a little quicker. They need to be drilled now for LEDs and push switches. And here is another time saver - although I will probably drill the second panel I will probably not bother fitting it just yet as this does involve a lot of wiring. If necessary, I can operate the points from the other end by DCC from the handset so will just fit the one at the other end for now. As this is on the board with the points it is much simpler. If I really feel I need to save more time then I might just fit the push buttons and leave the LED's for later.

In between all this 'Project X' has been coming along - all will be revealed very soon!