The Empire

[Zephyrus52246]

Looks a little (very little)  neater screwed into the terminals.


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

After testing all the tracks, I screwed the cover on  and voila!  East yard is ready for trains.  Almost.  The back four tracks tortoises aren't hooked up.   At least I was clever enough to install them when the track was installed, before all the plywood sections for the center pieces was in.      And two on the mainline need to be added as well. 

Jeff

[tct855]

Jeff,
            I'm here lurking about, love the work you're doing.  You are most serious about achieving the end result.     Keep on truckin' brother.  Thanx Thom...

[deemery]

No Magic Smoke (tm)?  Good job!!!


dave

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking electrical work. It's much neater than mine.

[tom.boyd.125]

Jeff,
The track work, wiring, background flats and yard look great. Your hired !!! Good luck with the new commute and take plenty of kits to keep you busy for the layovers. 
Tommy

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, guys.  Dave, I checked/tested after each step to make sure that there were no shorts.  The steps were:  South switch feeds, North switch feeds, South (live) feeds to the yard tracks, North (switched) feeds to the yard tracks.  There is some trepidation when turning the "On" switch each time.   


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Tommy, the plan is to work three (or four) twelve hour shifts in a row and then be home.  I won't have much time for building stuff.  This will work out better as I tend to build more when I have days off on a row rather than just one here and there like my five and six day weeks were.


Jeff

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

You are making some great progress on the layout. Well done sir, very well done.

Tom

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, Tom.  Today didn't go so well.  I was going to hook up the Berrett Hill Switch controllers to the Tortoises.  First, I'm out of green 14 gauge wire.  I have plenty of red.    Ordered the wire, and figured I'd just power it up with an extension cord for testing.  Wired the first one and noticed the turnout didn't move. The motor made noise, but it didn't move.  I pushed it by hand and it went back and forth fine.  The wire had fallen out from the switch bar.    When I initially placed these, I moved the tortoise to the appropriate side for the mainline and I think the pressure over time made the velcro that the tortoises are attached to fail.  It had pulled out just enough to have the wire fall out.  Becoming a contortionist I managed to get two screws thru the machine after getting the wire rethreaded.  It now threw fine, but the tortoise kept going back and forth and the indicator lights on the toggle switch was like an RR crossing sign, changing back and forth.  This controller is able to be wired for 8 turnouts, so I tried the next position on the bar.  Same thing.  Tried a different toggle that I knew worked.  Same thing.  I tried the next tortoise and wired it to the third position on the board and it worked fine.  Moved the original one to the fourth position and it works fine now.  Added two more, and all are working fine.  I don't know if there's a short on the board or what.  I only need six of the eight positions, so this may work out, but it's pretty weird.   Here's a picture of the Berret Hill Board. 


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I've just hung the toggles over the front for now.  This will need a more elegant solution. 


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

The Pioneer Zephyr fits perfectly onto it's ready track. 

Jeff

[PRR Modeler]

Jeff, your electrical issues sounded like many issues I have had in the past.  I'm glad you got it working.

[Zephyrus52246]

As I was disappointed in the Velcro giving way on the switch machine, I hot glued the last one in and hooked it up.  I'm now waiting for some 14 gauge wire to come tomorrow so I can finish with the East Yard for now.  So I'm back in the West Yard today.  I made a stencil for my center lines on the road.  The reference on the lines states that they were 15 feet long and 25 feet apart, so that's the dimensions I used.  The two cut out pieces are on the road and they look appropriate.  I then painted with a stiff semi dry brush just gently tapping over the stencil.  I started at the top of the hill where the curve is as there is no way I could cut a perfect curved stencil to fit.  The lines look OK.  I now need to weather the road.  Then finish adding more layers of bushes/etc.  Then some trees, if I ever get around to making the Super Trees.   


Jeff

[PRR Modeler]

Nice job on the road lines.