Tortoise Machines

I finally crawled under the layout and I was able to put tortoise machines to 16 of the 18 turnouts in lower staging. I will probably have to modify a cross brace to get one of the machines installed. I tried offsetting the .049 throw bar, but it didn't seem to be heavy enough to throw the switch points. I'll try again today.

Wiring and trackwork

It has been a while since the last post, but things are still moving along. I finished the hidden staging track at the middle of the layout. I finished the wye and track work at Belfast where the hidden staging connects to the mainline.

I am going to use C/MRI for detection and I have been picking up parts from layouts that are being torn down or changed. I put in all the Occupancy Detector Motherboards (ODMB) that I have. I also added all of the Occupancy Detector Boards (ODB) that I currently have, onto those motherboards. It's amazing that 40 detectors only gets me half way around the lower level. I'm wondering if I'm crazy for getting this deep into it.

I ran the power bus around the lower level. I'm trying to figure out where to place things like Auto-reversers, and DCC circuit breakers.

I have also been trying to figure out JMRI to draw my track plan for a CTC panel. Needless to say, it's keeping me busy