'What on earth?' I hear you ask!

Just a couple quotes which arose today which made me laugh that seemed relevant.

Allow me to explain...

JohnDMJ kindly volunteered to help do the wiring for the layout. (He's good at this kind of thing you see). Now, let's be honest here - before today I had very little knowledge about wiring so having someone else do it and teach me how to do it was fantastic!

Watching out for 'Two-ton-tin-openers' (i.e. cattle) around the New Forest roads, John promptly arrived at 10am and set about teaching me the tricks of the trade. First job was to check the position of the holes for the point motors and shuffle the track around a bit to give the right 6 foot gap between the tracks.

Then we had to employ some insulated fishplates which I had omitted and set to work fitting feeds to the layout. Not only was I taught about wiring, but also how to solder. Although the first go was better than the second!

John's First Tip: You can see in the photo above that the rail joint has been soldered. This has been done because of the fragile nature of the track being near the baseboard join. This will also be done where there are joins on curves.

John's Second Tip: For joints where curved track is involved, solder the track in a straight joint before flexing it to the curve. Doing this will help the track form its own natural transition curve.

John's Third Tip: When wiring SEEP point motors, consider using connector blocks like the one shown in the above photo straight next to the circuit board to save time and fiddling around in restricted spaces.

John's Fourth Tip: You can see the feeds coming from the baseboard straight into the connector blocks - this means it is much easier to adjust should something fail. All you have to do is unscrew the wire from the blocks.

Here's the three bowls of spaghetti! That's only half of the wiring needed. It may seem a lot, but don't let that put you off!

John's Fifth Tip: Wire naturally curves - this protects the insulation from damage. When you have large strands of wire awaiting attachment coil it up and stick a couple cable ties to hold it all together. (Don't forget to label it with some tape!)

John's Sixth Tip: Most of the standard gauge wiring on show. They are held in place by cable ties and cable tie adhesive bases. In awkward places hot glue from a glue gun is used.

The completed wiring for one point motor and feeds. Feeds are easily identified by the red and black wires - each correspond to one rail. Mark on the baseboard R and B to make sure you get them round the right way!

Well, thanks once again John - I've learnt a lot and I hope your tips give other people food for thought.

Next job: Doing exactly the same for the narrow gauge and working out what I want from the control panel.

If anyone has any questions feel free to reply to this blog entry and I'll see if I can answer them!

Almost forgot! As for "The Blue Whale" - that's the shape of the board with the NG drawn on