The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[S&S RR]

El prez does well again.....even if his "laurels" are getting a little long in the tooth. 

Greg,

Thanks, much appreciated. And, just for the record my laurels aren't long in the tooth, they are wide in the pants. Just saying but no need to picture this.

Tom

I so much rather look at curves - great recovery Tom!


Thanks for putting that image in my head yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I so much rather look at curves - great recovery Tom!

[ACL1504]

El prez does well again.....even if his "laurels" are getting a little long in the tooth. 

Greg,

Thanks, much appreciated. And, just for the record my laurels aren't long in the tooth, they are wide in the pants. Just saying but no need to picture this.

Tom

I so much rather look at curves - great recovery Tom!


Thanks for putting that image in my head yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I so much rather look at curves - great recovery Tom!

John,

Me too, thanks for stopping by for a visit and look see. Thanks for the support as well.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I've been really busy lately on the layout. I have so much to upload and share but it seems like it takes more and more time each thread addition. It does help keep me motivated though.

I finished wiring the 24 tortoise switch motors on the west side of the second level. I have six on the other side for the second level to install and this doesn't count the unkown number I'll be installing down the middle of the second level.

On the old layout and the lower level staging area on this layout, I used the double pole double throw toggles with bi-color (red/green) LEDs for those panels. Here is a photo of one of the four I installed for the staging level.



I'm switching to a different mode of turnout control for the second and third levels.

Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I decided to use the Digitrax DS64  Stationary Decoder. To quote Digitrax, "They are simple to hook up and configure". Obviously they have more to say but you get the idea. However, it comes ready to use with Atlas switch machine so you need to program it for the slow motion tortoise type motors. Don't bother reading the directions as they are written by some guy somewhere with a plastic pocket protector in his shirt pocket.

Watch this Utube and you are good to go. It's the best I've seen and more importantly it easy to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtIGBDCl-0



Each DS53 will control four turnouts. But, if you have a crossover the two turnout motors count as one motor. So in reality, you can run four crossovers or eight tortoise motors with one DS64. Keep in mind the two count as one so you are back to controlloing only four motors. I guess by now you are confused like me. 

Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

By using the DS64 I can throw the turnouts with the hand held controller.

To make the wiring easier for me, I'm also using an 8 pin connector. The connector fits on the bottom of the 8 pin soldering plate on the bottom of the Tortoise.

I got the 8 pin connectors from Jim's Model Trains.

WWW. Jimsmodeltrains.com



What I like about these connectors is the fact they are quick connect/disconnect should I need to replace a turnout. The pin connectors allow me to not have to rewire/solder the Tortoise when it is in position under the layout. I simply remove the connector, replace the motor and snap the connector back on the new motor.

Also, I numbered all turnouts on the second level starting at 201 and up. All turnouts on the third level will be numbered 301 and up. On the second level I have wired five crossovers so there are actually 29 Tortoise motors wired.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I have the DS64's wired directly to the Digitrax PS 2012. PS means power station. The PS 2012 provides power up to 20 amps. The one PS 2012 I have powers all of the 20 staging tracks, the second level tracks and part of the ovalix and 29 Tortoise slow motion stall motors. I've had no power issues to date. Eventually, I'll use a dedicated PS 2012 to power the turnouts on the second and third levels.



I've numbered the DS64's to correspond with the turnout number.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

And here is a view of a few of the Tortoise turnouts under the second level track.



See how easy it will be to replace a burned out Tortoise should the need arrive? One final note or thought if you will. I've not decided 100% on the type of signaling system I'll be using. The blue 8 pin connectors can be remove from the turnout, wired for signals and then reconnnected to the bottom of the Tortoise.

Thanks for checking in and if I've confused anyone please ask a question. I just may confuse you futher.

[jrmueller]

Impressive layout Tom.  It would be great if I could visit sometime  when we are on our return trip North on the AutoTrain. Jim

[ACL1504]

Impressive layout Tom.  It would be great if I could visit sometime  when we are on our return trip North on the AutoTrain. Jim

Jim,
Thanks for the very kind words, much appreciated.
You are most welcome anytime, as are any forum members, to come by for a visit, see the layout and meet the SBG. I was wondering why you didn't drop by the other visits you made to Central Florida. I'll send a PM with my phone number. Just give me a few days notice.

Tom

[Zephyrus52246]

All those exposed bare wires are kinda scary.    I'll bet it's a pain to work under there on the wiring/tortoises.

Jeff

[S&S RR]

Tom


Thanks for sharing the pictures of the underside - exactly the kind of information that should be shared in a build thread. I'm enjoying the thread!

[ACL1504]

All those exposed bare wires are kinda scary.    I'll bet it's a pain to work under there on the wiring/tortoises.

Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks for checking in. The exposed wires are no problem. Every wire is soldered to the buss wires. Notice also the wires are staggered so if they do get pushed together there is no danger of a short.

The clearance between the lower level and the second level is 10". Plenty of room for the trains to run underneath but not alot of room to do any serious work. This is why I opted for the quick 8 pin connectors for the Tortoise machines. The soldering of the wires on this level was a bit tricksie though.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom


Thanks for sharing the pictures of the underside - exactly the kind of information that should be shared in a build thread. I'm enjoying the thread!

John,

Thanks for checking in and I'm glad you are enjoying the thread. Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth posting as you know we get very little feedback but a lot of views.

Tom

[S&S RR]

Tom


Thanks for sharing the pictures of the underside - exactly the kind of information that should be shared in a build thread. I'm enjoying the thread!

John,

Thanks for checking in and I'm glad you are enjoying the thread. Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth posting as you know we get very little feedback but a lot of views.

Tom

I agree that the feedback is light but there sure are a lot of people checking in every day. It must be interesting or that would not be happening. I enjoy seeing how everyone is doing on their layout - so I keep my build thread going. It only takes a few minutes a day and we can all keep in touch between train conventions and layout visits. I sure wish there were layout threads like this when I was starting out!

[ACL1504]

John,

I agree with your comments. This build thread keeps me focused on the task at hand. When I started railroad modeling there were no computers, few if any conventions and no help.

Tom