Today, a construction worker engaged in reinstating the railway at Delph station site discovered a tortoise buried beneath.......

OK, in a slight break from the coal drops (awaiting more plastic supplies), I decided to mount and connect the first point motor to the TOU on the only turnout on this board. On fitting and attaching the droppers from the switch blades to the pre-made TOU I found that the blade opening at the tips of the blades is slightly over the scale 4.5". I think I'll live with this (hard to correct anyway, without making a new set of sliders) as it's better to have a larger than smaller gap for running purposes. I then fitted and connected the Tortoise point motor with the blades/TOU and motor drive set in the mid-stroke position. I then adjusted the throw of the actuator to give a fairly firm pressure in the closed position. Being the first time I've fitted on of these, I'm not sure how to judge the correct amount of over-travel at the motor (how much bend there should be in the actuating spring steel wire at full throw). Advice on this from experienced Tortoisers would be welcome.

Here's a couple of photos of the under board installation.

The motor is mounted on an Exactoscale adaptor plate, which in turn is screwed to a mounting pad fixed under the board. All the motors are set along the back edge of the boards, clear of the track above.

The operating rod from motor to TOU passes through a mouse-hole slot in one og the strengthening ribs under the board. This connecting rod is actually a length of rail from some Peco "OO" flexi-track purchased specially for the purpose at the recent Leamington show. P4 friends operating Amlwch took great pleasure in taking a compromising photo of me carrying said track in it's distinctive bag. "Traitor" was one of the words used.....

Dave.