Basement Train Layout: Week 412

Sun, Jun 19, 2022 thru Sat, Jun 25, 2022

Sun, Jun 19, 2022

Here are the labels I made at church
this morning...

Mon, Jun 20, 2022

On my way home from work I stopped at the Science & Surplus Store in Geneva IL

I was looking for toggle labels.
No such thing, but I did find these items
which will be very useful in wiring
the signal bridge lights.

Summary of transaction:

Push-In Connectors $1.25

Junction Block $1.95

Tax $.22

Total $3.42

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair 5:45-8:15pm 2.5 hrs.

Jordan Osborn 6:30-7:30pm 1 hr.

Tonight we concentrated on testing the lights on the signal bridges...

The only signal that is completely operational.

Checking the connections and wondering why in the world
the other signal bridges don't work the way this one works.

As Rob and I finished the evening's session,
we decided to move the camera for the
South Power District to a new location.

Rob took this picture of me taking the
picture of the new camera view.

This is the old camera view.
From here you can't see the signal bridge.

In the new location you will be able to see the signal bridge.

Once I get it working we'll get a better view...hopefully!

I realized after tonight's session there are no guarantees in Model RR

(which I already knew, but confirmed mightily tonight).

Tue, Jun 21, 2022

I called Dennis Zander from Z-Stuff for Trains today.

He told me he will come to my home to trouble shoot the signal bridge lights.

I would say that is incredible customer service!

Wed, Jun 22, 2022

I'm going to mount the camera on this contraption.

Works pretty good, wouldn't you say?

Here's the new view and what it looks like on the monitor.
The monitor on the left is the South Power District.
The monitor on the right is the West Power District.

I took a picture of the view from the camera.
Checking for overlap with the other Power District.

Same thing.

Thu, Jun 23, 2022

I had a very special guest stop by today!

His name is Dennis Zander who owns Z-Stuff for Trains.

Here is one of his ads in
Model Railroader magazine.

I bought the four signals from his company.

Since we were having troubles making them operational, he drove to my house from Hinsdale and took care of the problems.

This morning I removed the troubled signals and prepared a workspace for us to work at tonight.

One signal worked.
The other three I removed from the layout and placed
them here for easy access this afternoon.

My documentation.

SPECIAL GUEST

Dennis Zander
I felt a was in company with a celebrity!

He ended up replacing some of the circuit boards.

Checking out the sensors.

We tested the three signals and got them working again.

I'll need to repaint the bases.

Wah Lah!
Green signals!

Thank you very much, Dennis Zander!

Fri, Jun 24, 2022

Yesterday I found this on the front porch when I got home:

I will be mounting these ON/OFF labels
on the facia switches around the layout.

Since I used bonus points on this purchase there was no cash outlay. Sweet!

I also stopped by ACE Hardware to pick up some small wire connectors.

The cost is $4.07

And now it's time to figure out the wiring on the rest of the signal bridges...

First order of business is to paint the base of this
new signal bridge black.

Then install the signal bridge and check the wiring.
Here I've touched the common wire to both tracks
and they are now moving through their cycles.

Left side moved from Red to Yellow.
Right side ready to change to Green.

There you go, Right side now green.
Left side ready to change to green.

Back to normal setting.

I finished testing the remaining signals and have documented which wires are used for each track.

Now I can wire everything up under the layout more permanently.

So far, my wiring has been temporary for testing purposes only.

I spent about 30 minutes permanently installing Signal #2

Signal #2 was my first signal I installed and tested.
Now it is wired under the layout permanently.
All wiring is complete and working perfectly!

Sat, Jun 25, 2022

Now to move to the other three signals.

Let's see how far I get today...

Before wiring each individual signal,
I decided to install a "MASTER" switch.
The Master switch will power on/off the signals
in case we're working on the RR and
don't need to have the signals activated.