Mainline Leads In; Next Come Tortoise Switches

The leads on the upper level mainline of the Paducah & Lake Erie are in, thanks to some help by Bob Gouirand. Next come the Tortoise slow-motion switch motors, which I am using for all switches on the main line, and hard-to-reach turnouts. Industrial tracks will be hand thrown switches. Anyway, I have to install 14 of the Tortoise guys on the upper level as it stands right now, and there will be more. The good news is that I have found them in the moving boxes (we could have done a better job labeling boxes when we packed up the railroad in Ohio).You will recall that I'm trying to get all the "under the bench work" wiring on the upper level done while I have easy access before installing the lower level.

Trains Running; Dropping Leads

Trains are running again after the visit by Digitrax expert Brian Post. It was, as I suspected, a matter of some recent wiring by yours truly being done incorrectly, and it took Brian about 10 minutes to see the errors of my ways. As most modelers will attest, when trains are running - even just a short distance - it's much easier to get motivated to work on the layout. That's especially true this week in St. Louis when the thermometer has hit 100-plus degrees every day (heat index in the 112 range)! Now it's to the task of dropping leads every six feet to assure even distribution of power. Rather than soldering to the buss wire, I am using 3M "suitcase connectors" (photo above). They can be a pain to work with, but are quicker than soldering every connection. Anyway, we move forward.