Suzie

PP3 battery might not be able to provide sufficient current unless it is a new alkaline type. You have to get the polarity the correct way round to get the light to work, but polarity is not important to get the mechanism to work. I would recommend that you monitor the voltage while the signal is operating. The mechanism should run OK on as little as 6V if there is sufficient current available (the internal electronics runs at 3.3V), but the lamp will require 8VDC or 16VAC to achieve full brightness (you might prefer less brightness!)

I thought that Pershore was where the archers was supposed to be.

The normal way to get lighting to be constant brightness on DC is to modify the wiring in the loco. Some American locos use a 1.5V regulator and 1.5V incandescent bulbs (you can buy a PCB that replaces the existing PCB and has a decoder socket to achieve this). I am just a bit worried that you might plug in a decoder one day that has not been pre-programmed for reduced brightness.

What we need is for a watchmaker to get on on the market and make a doll with motorised arm unit that can be planted on to a mast/gantry/bracket. Cannot be beyond the realms of technological possibility, but might be a bit expensive at first. A tiny stepper motor should be able to move a well balanced arm and be quite small.

Border areas often have a bridge over a river, and the signalling demarcation is there, one countries' signals on one side of the bridge, and the other countries' on the other side. I have not worked out yet if there is any distant signalling in one system for the other system - it may be that the first signal encountered of the new system is a distant. The overhead voltage will change on the bridge too.

This does have a slight problem in that the lighting in a loco with a NEM652 socket will be expecting track voltage between the blue wire and the yellow and white wires. Modifying the loco to work with this circuit will mean it will no longer work with a DCC decoder.

No, the momentary action is just because that is the way a push-button works. What makes you think it will be damaged?

Mike Yes. Connecting the two yellow wires for an extended period will not damage the signal.

Mike Hall's 'Lost Railways of Middlesex' is a book with a lot of history in it.

Five extra centre cars to allow a 20-min 3-car service should be a relatively cheap upgrade compared to the other options to add extra stock. I suspect the better stock will encourage greater ridership so hopefully this option can be explored in good time. Having 3-car trains might make the case for upgrading platforms to 6-car length interesting.

Oh, how to wire these switches. It is quite easy, link the two centre contacts, then connect the two Yellow wires to the outer terminals which are linked when the switch is in the middle position. Every time the switch passes through the middle position the signal will move, and the position that the switch ends up should correspond with the signal position. If you need to resync just move the switch to the middle position and back again. As is always the case with these Dapol signals the solution is never completely ideal, but that is squarely the fault of

Try Mouser part No 506-A211SDZQ04 Or Amazon for a pack of three. I would recommend you try Mouser first, should not have to wait long for them.

I am just going by experience. Most modellers who use analogue DC tend to consider a layout longer than 3' excessive, and having any motive power more than one steam tank loco on a layout beyond the pail. There are of course exceptions...

You can get 3-position double pole ON-ON-ON type toggle switches which can be wired to create a pulse each time the switch passes through the central position. This is the best hope you have of achieving what you desire.

Correct. Power routing is one of those things that was used in the olden days when analogue control was used on layouts with more than one loco. It is a niche requirement nowadays.