Wiring Module One - Turnout Control

My initial intention was to not wire my turnouts at all and to use manual throws, since the width of the modules meant the turnouts were all within easy reach. That changed once I saw my first N Scale manual throw; way, way out of scale! One of the reasons I chose to use Code 55 was because of the more realistic profile and the turnout throws were just going to ruin the effect!

Tortoise slow motion switch control motors were my first choice, but the price bothered me. To purchase a single motor in NZ was going to set me back close to $40. Way, way too expensive for my taste. So after researching for awhile, I found an alternative motor made by an Australian company called DCC Concepts (their link is in the resources pages on this blog.). Their Cobalt Blue motors come in a few different flavors, including ones with DCC Decoders already built into them. I came close to going this route, but after mulling it over, realized changing turnout direction using my handheld throttle would just be a pain in the backside.

I eventually settled on a cheaper version, which has a cost of about $24, and meets all of my needs. DCC Concepts also supply all of the parts necessary to make a control panel, and so I bought a bunch of switches and LEDs, and then popped into a local engineering company and had them cut me some sheet metal plates for mounting everything too.

Installing the motors under the bench was relatively simple to do, and with the neat spring clips, there is no soldering required either; just pop the appropriate wire into the clearly labelled hole. I have 5 wires going to each switch motor. Power from the control panel, dcc bus power and the wire from the turnout frog (the green wire in the picture).

By far and away the most difficult, fiddly and time consuming part was wiring up the panel. I bought LEDs and switches from DCC Concepts also; the switches are great, each DPDT switch has a circuit board attached making power and led connection simple. The LEDs, well let's just say I dumped the lot and bought some cheaper dual color LEDs from my local electronic shop. The main issue with them is that they are far too bright for a control panel. I want them to be an indicator, not an INDICATOR!!!!! I also found them way too easy to blow; whereas the cheaper, not as bright alternatives seem a lot more stable. I'll put that last issue down to my electrical ineptitude that I have mentioned before.

The panel come up really well (other than the scratches which I have to repaint), it is easy to understand and functions exactly as is required.

The last step of this project is really just the detailing of the turnouts. I am going to use non functioning switch stands, but I will be doing that way off in the future...other projects call first!

Layout Update

So back to my haphazard posting!

Several months have passed and while I haven't made massive progress, I have made some. The first structures are now placed, the first one is my depot, passenger and freight, followed by a large industrial building which I have heavily modified to be a low profile background building.

All of these buildings have their lighting installed as you see below. I am really pleased with how they look, obviously there is no detailing done yet, but that sort of thing is the stuff that I like to do bit by bit.

You  might have noticed the signal light in the bottom picture! It's a model power signal which I picked up off of ebay (not sure if they are still in production), there are actually 3 on the layout now. I have them wired through the switch motors and they indicate whether the main line is cleared. I thought about wiring up block detection, then did the maths and thought about it again; way to expensive and way to complicated. This looks ok, and adds a bit more interest to the scene.

Also completed is my first road, which will eventually lead to a fuel loading depot. I'll get into that a bit more in my next post, along with my method for creating roads. I am currently working on creating a highway overpass which will span the entire width of the layout. I was going to purchase the Rix overpass, but after looking at the price and what I would get for my money (approx $100) I decided I didn't like to get royally ripped off, so I am scratch building my own. It's an evening project and I don't have much to show yet, so will hold off on posting any pictures until I have the supports all finished at least.