On to the Branch Line

It has been a long time (again) since I updated progress. But I have been doing a lot of fun things, though not all train related...

I posted in a few places about experiments with servo motors. So far things are looking pretty good. The Iowa Scaled Engineering products offer different control boards, with two types of relay contacts, to control point & frog polarity, or external contacts. Since I wanted to use the contacts to drive signaling on the main tracks, the MRServo-3 product seems a good match for the mainline and branch line tracks.

So I started installing them:

The rectangle of foam core in front of the station mock up will be the first servo install. I will use a different controller board (MRServo-2) on the left-hand installation (where the hole is) with basic power routing and gaps in the rails for the hand laid turnouts.

These four turnouts form crossover and two sidings. One of the mounting holes is in the wrong spot, and has since been moved.

The second installation was much easier than the first, after applying lessons learned.

They are sprouting everywhere! Once I get the other two in, I can look to replace and wire the track back up and test it with some trains. Then one more major challenge to undertake!

Catching up on track work posts...

This turnout has been a pain in my neck for some time; some days seems like everything is happy, then on tiger days nothing seems to make a full circuit without hitting dead track.

Turns out my choice of location for a frog power feeder was all wrong (and it was a poor job of soldering!). Just past this connection, between it and the frog, is a manufacturer supplied owner gap. So no power was getting anywhere near the frog. Since I bought the turnouts second hand, I did not gave any documents explaining things.

Here's the offending part:

 You can just barely see the gaps about two ties down from the soldered connection

While preparing to replace the turnout after a soldering mishap (to bridge the gaps) I discovered a metal fitting on the bottom, presumably to hold the frog assembly in place. I managed to attach a feeder wire to it, and job done. Solid, working electrical connection completely out of sight!

Armed with new knowledge I proceeded to the next instance of trouble; in this case, bad advice from the Internet, about cutting gaps. As I have learned, the gap is already there, so they, and the insulated rail joiners on the frog rails, are not necessary.

Also, part of the plan is to swap the Cicuitron Tortoise motors for servos, making storage a lot easier as the vertical footprint is significantly reduced.

So I set my sights on replacing this entire crossover:

Removing them was the easy part; removing the track and scenery while trying to preserve the scenic features away from the track was a pain.

Getting back to a connected loop:

I replaced all of the removed trackage, and secured it in place with PVA well away from the moving parts. After everything dried I installed three new sets of feeder wires, one at each of the two point ends of the turnouts, and the third on the main rout of the front turnout. There are four blocks on the lift out, but all are connected with other track off the lift out. It's logical, and saves me running extra wiring and the bus for power. Four sets of connections for track power, and one for the turnout motors is complicated enough. Besides, the next big project is motorising the crossing gates...

Where does time go?

I've been spending the time doing more of a chore than enjoyment, i.e. wiring, lately. But while doing so have made some pretty good strides in operational ability on the layout.

One of the thoughts that has floated in my head was converting the layout to run ONLY DCC. This would mean taking advantage of a few newer arrivals in the control front, such as a frog juicer for the power routing in the turnouts, which consequently does not support DC. I could always keep on looking, and trying other new arrivals, but as slow as progress has been, I worry I may never get there...

But having fun too; while doing running on just DCC, i managed to get a fairly good line-up of power in the staging yard:

Line up of DCC equipped locomotives; from left to right: Atlas GE Dash 8-40C, Atlas EMD SD50, Kato MPI MP36PH, Atlas EMD MP15, Atlas EMD GP9, and Atlas EMD SD9.I've probably got about twice this number again decoder equipped, so may go the DCC only route on this layout soon, if I can convert a few more GP and SD units easily...

Here is a shot with the flash, so you can what's what:

Tomorrow we may do more running. And a bit more tidying...