Back to the layout, and it's do all the wiring time. In the absence of four point motors (unavailable anywhere!) the cables have been placed so all that is needed is to fix them whenever they can be. Starting at the far end and working towards the control panel the cables were made into a harness using small ty-wraps (and tape when I ran out of them). All the cables were idented with masking tape, with branches popping in and out as required. When the control panel was arrived at, all the leads were connected to their relevant switches - except the ones that I haven't got switches for yet. It all worked apart from confusing myself stupid over the one section that needs to be permanently powered (or rather, there's no switch since an engine can't park there) - somehow it ended up on a point motor 16V ac supply, which still worked fine but made the 08 stutter somewhat when faced with a vee that was at both at 12V dc and 16V ac. In case you are wondering the dc won - and nothing blew up, but the point motor made some interesting noises and survived just fine.

Thank god that's done - I hate wiring, access is just so awkward... Still a few switches to get, but essentially it's all done. Lighting, for the signal box, houses, yard lamps etc will wired with a separate 12V loom (I'm standardising on 12V ready-resistored LEDs to avoid confusion). The panel will get a new coat of paint and all lines painted on nicely, and LEDS to indicate normal/reverse on the points (the lower half) and power on/off for the sections (above). I'm probably going to add strip LEDS over the track diagram so that, like a c. 1980 power box, white LEDS interlocked to the points and section power switches show the status of a set route. There'll be no safety interlocking though, that would be interesting but somewhat OTT.

View the full article