Heathley Kirkgate is in a shed which also has to function as a shed and therefore has all those shed-type things in it such as gardening tools, bikes, lawn mower, etc. As a result the space beneath the baseboards is somewhat limited and this, along with cost, has dissuaded me from the point motor route. So way back at the Doncaster exhibition in February I purchased an assortment of Gem wire-in-tube parts to try out the system. With trackwork on the scenic area on hold awaiting parts I switched focus to the fiddle yard entrance pointwork. This is a matrix of turnouts allowing trains to utilise as many yard roads as possible in the limited space I have. The track here and in the rest of the fiddle yard is all Peco Code 100.

The system comprises PTFE tubing and steel wire that fits snugly into the tube but can move freely. I started by marking out the positions of the tube runs before cutting troughs into the cork beneath the turnouts. The tubing was next cut to length followed by the wire (which I allowed a good inch extra for) which was then threaded into the tubes. One end of the wire was then bent through 90°. Next the turnouts where loosely fixed in place. Working from one end of the matrix to the other I laid the tube runs, hooking the bent end of the wire into the centre hole on the tie bar leaving around 6mm of bare wire before the tube (this was somewhat fiddly). You can curve the runs but it's recommended not to go below around 50mm radius. The runs were then temporarily fixed in place with drawing pins at regular intervals and tested. The action is somewhat stiff at this point as the drawing pins are pressing against the wire and restricting movement. Once I was happy, the turnouts were pinned properly and the tubes were glued in place. When the glue was dry, the drawing pins were removed and the action tested again. Without the pins the movement is nice and free.

The final run to the curved turnout on the right was quite tight so I opted to use an angle crank on this one. These are just pinned into the baseboard and convert the movement through 90°.

Next the control method needs to be set up. Gem do make a nice lever frame but I've opted to use slide switches. The turnouts here are all insulfrog but on the scenic section they will be electrofrog and I can also use the switches to change the frog polarity at the same time as moving the blades. The wires connect to your chosen control mechanism via a wire snap and an "omega wire". The wire snap is simply a grooved piece of cast metal which holds the wire (bent through 90°) at one end and the omega wire at the other. An etched brass top is then placed on and the rivets on the casting crushed to hold it in place. The omega wire is a looped piece of brass wire designed to take up any overthrow in the motion.

With all this in place I set about constructing a housing for the switches. This was simply a length of 9mm ply fixed to the side of baseboard, a suitable spacer and then another length of ply. Next a small hole was drilled in the side of the plastic switch handles to hold the bent end of the omega wire. The switches drop between the two ply boards and are screwed into space. Finally the omega wire ends are pushed into the holes. I was expecting to need to glue them but they are a snug fit and don't seem to want to go anywhere.

To my utter amazement and delight I found that everything worked perfectly without any need for further adjustment!

Once all the control switches are in place I will make a blanking plate of some sort to cover the gaps.