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Ah. Don’t you know it wears off after precisely 362 days. :-) Paul.

Good to see you today. Now you know who it is when I’m spouting about signalling. And who to slag off when I get it wrong!!! Paul.

You almost can! It’s just a tandem turnout (asymmetric three way) with the following turnouts hard on the crossing nose. Might manage something quite close with some point trimming. Paul.

P.S. Meant to say that ITG’s idea of drawing up a wiring plan from your layout (hopefully knowing how your DCC bus and droppers are routed) would be a good feasibility study. That would give you an idea of how much effort and cost will be involved. If you discover that JMRI does not need continuous train detection, and you go with diode drop detection, Iain’s comment about back to back diodes for undetected areas means either a pair of diodes for each junction area, or, a second bus around the junction areas. Paul.

Still using current sensing, there are some designs that use a transformer design rather than diode drop. Although mine are all on the same polarity, they don’t have to be as there is no electrical connection between the rail and the sensing circuit. Will still require fiddling around under the board to separate wires and route the right ones through the toroid. Thats where it’s easier if the boards separate so they can be upended for working on and ‘too late now’ if they don’t. I use Rr-Cirkits Watchman available from Coastal DCC, supplemented by MERG DTC2 where a multiple of 8 is not cost effective. Train detection in turnout areas is an interesting topic (!). For the commercial systems (iTrain and Traincontroller) you don’t need it to make the programme work, for JMRI you would need to check. (I think I have seen a JMRI discussion that hinted that train detection sections need to be abutting for its logic to work properly.). When comparing, also beware terminology differences - in TC and iTrain a Block is the track between points where the train will stop and may have one or more train detection Sections. In JMRI, Sections are the track between the points which may contain one or more Blocks! I’ll be back with more generic thoughts later. Paul.

I was about to say exactly that! web site is https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/ Paul.

I’ve had droopy Heljan couplings. A sliver of (say) 10thou plasticard in the NEM mount can help it stay up. Possibly the Hornby coupling is thicket and achieving the same result. Paul.

No, because there are 9 on bridges. Paul.

Depots is dangerous places! Paul.

Almost!! You can’t put the power on the C pins because of the short you describe. But, if you put the power on the NO and NC pins (linked NO to NO, NC to NC) and the motor on the C pins then you don’t get the short. Hopefully the switch will test out as per Jeremy’s table and then you can try the alternative wiring. Paul.

That’s a much better way of testing! Using both sides of the switch is making it more difficult to work out what’s happening because you don’t know whether it is the positive that is being switched, or the negative, or both. A better approach (using the kit you have) would be to wire the +ve direct to the device and use each side of the switch in turn as follows:- -ve to common, device -ve to NO, record L, C, R. Repeat with device to NC and record. Repeat both for other side of switch. Those results will show how each side is connected. It assumes there are no connections between the two sides, but we can deal with that later if necessary. Paul.

Are (were) you feeling alright? There’s some paint on them and they look almost complete. Concerned of the GWR.

I’m suspicious about the wording of the description. They are called DPDT, but the 2 position is SPDT not DPDT. Now there is a version of DPDT switch that can be made into a three position ON-ON-ON SPDT. If you put the standard ‘cross’ on that type of DPDT you will get a short in the centre position. Given that they call the 2P switch DPDT when it isn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised if the 3P isn’t a ON-OFF-ON DPDT either. I’m not keen on testing contact positions by looking for a short - there’s a good chance of damaging the contact so that it won’t work anyway once you know how the contacts are arranged. Paul.

So it has 8 connectors? Paul.

Yes and no (I think)! The diagram for your switches looks like a single pole switch with connectors for an LED - would need to see from the back to be sure. Assuming they are only single pole then:- Can you wire it like the “standard switch”? No. Can you use it to drive a tortoise? Yes. You just need (a) differently configured power supply/supplies. In the tortoise wiring instructions (http://www.circuitron.com/index_files/ins/800-6000ins.pdf ) the “standard” switch is Diagram 1. Your switches need Diagram 2 with 2 supplies or Diagram 3 with an AC supply and diodes. Hth Paul.

Next step is a 6” wide full height module (1 of three required for the full frame). I’m expecting that to be sufficiently rigid, but ply is an option if it isn’t. There’s also the option of putting extra cross pieces for strength, but I need to leave openings for getting bits in and out. Paul.

2 1/2” wide (63.5mm). From memory, the height is 151mm and when full size the height will be 271mm. Width for my 35 lever frame will be 18” 457.2mm plus 10mm each end for the prototype finish. Paul.

Turbo***. :-) It is Sunday after all! Paul.

And only a phone call away for Tuesday and Thursday. Paul.

Thanks. It suits my skills and desired outcomes. Paul.

RUNNING SESSION Must have been an MLV shortage last running session. (Aye right!) Paul.

Meanwhile, I have been busy “modelling”. I’ve had to learn a new CAD programme suggested by RMWeb users - the open source LibreCAD. It’s been a learning curve but I’m getting there. Now I’m getting to grips with how it works, it is much better for what I want to do than my previous arrangements, and it interfaces to the laser cutter software in a much more efficient manner so I’m pleased I had to put in the effort. Thus, today I cut and assembled this test piece. A couple of errors discovered that can be sorted before I go to full size. The top (indication panel and lever section) is proper size, the bottom is very much reduced so as not to waste mdf. The bottom will be increased to scale size to take the interface electronics and the width increased from 5 to 12 lever sections for the real one. Cladding for the front and ends also needs to be designed. Still lots of fun to be had. Paul.

Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. The jigsaw was finished in about a day and a half. The most difficult bit was the edges - hence the ruler to line them all up when testing which one fitted best. A sign of a quality producer, each edge has a different amount of white border so it was possible to separate into,four piles of edges. Very suitable for my tastes, and Keith was closest. Paul.

I could bring those too. All dried out, not used for 30+ years. Hand too shaky even if they did work. Paul.

Showing my age as I read Radiospares without noticing. Was late 70s when the change happened. Paul.