Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[wm3798]

On to more pressing business.

Before I can do the final assembly of the module, I had to finish wiring the track and signal lights, since those connections will be hard to get to once I install the sky board more permanently.

The dual signals at the end of the siding were easy, as there were terminals available on the Tortoise that can automatically indicate which route is clear based on the position of the points.


These are leftover from the original layout, and these signals let the Elkins Yard operator know that the track was clear to proceed into the Wild Mouse helix down to Thomas...

The other end needed a less elegant solution.



I used a single tortoise with a couple of levers to operate both turnouts in the interlocking, so all the terminals on the tortoise were occupied powering the frogs.  For now, I really just need to have a simple switch that can change the indication from red to green manually for the purposes of the photo session, so I dug out an old micro slide switch, and embedded it into the piling that will hold up the signal... You can see in the image above that the signal is green, against the position of the points... 



Here's the slide switch that operates the signal. 

As I parse through detailing the module, I'll get everything set plumb and true, and work on adding foliage and other visual treats to render the scene worthy of the M³T.

I also started working on wiring in the structure and street lighting last night...  More progress to report on that this evening, hopefully!

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love seeing you making progress on a layout like thing. Is this a fully operational layout?

[davefoxx]

Although I know you're rushing like me to have something presentable, I know Puddy would be honored and proud to have the M³T displayed on your module.  Great work!

Now, take your damn time on your module, so I can finish my SAL station before the M³T gets to me.   

DFF

[wm3798]

Starting Friday, I'm basically falling off the face of the earth for 11 days.  You'll have plenty of time!

@Ed Kapuscinski , It's a self-standing photo module, but I'm wiring it with automobile connectors at each end in the event I should find myself in possession of real estate with a basement at some point.  We've been looking at cabin retreats in Va and WVa, and I don't have pay for a house I don't live in as of June 2017... stand by for news!

Lee

[wm3798]

Last night I got the wiring far enough along so I could mount the track module to the HCD in a more permanent manner.  After that, more wiring.  Nothing photogenic yet, but the ideas are swirling.

On a sad note, I found the lighted train order stand I had made for the old layout, and in the shuffle of deconstruction, storage, and retrieval, it had been decapitated somewhere along the line...

I was hoping to include it in one of the new shots outside the Owings Mills TO office...  Oh well.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That's a bummer, I really liked that thing!

[wm3798]

I can make another one, not sure I'll have time before the train arrives, though.

Made some more progress last night, completing the wiring tasks... Now all the lights work!







...or so I thought.

It turns out I somehow reversed the polarity of the track wiring... the first connection I made when I started this project...   Back when this was the lift out section at the window on the WM, I had a simple stereo jack that connected the track power to the main bus line.  Well, I must have wired it late at night or after several beers.  I removed the jack, since this was going to become permanently joined, and soldered the red to the red, and black to black...  But apparently that's all bass ackward...  It may not be a big deal for the photo shoot, but I want to be able to plug this unit into a future layout, so I'll have to take the sky board off and go after the problem before I can commence the finish scenery work.  Ugh.

Well, it's looking pretty good so far, regardless of my limited skills with electricity...

Lee

[wm3798]

Major progress this weekend.  Fixed the little wiring snafu, filled in the landscaping blanks, and started the finish landscaping.  Here's a couple vignettes...







Next phase will be teasing out the details around the structures, paving the roads, and planting the corn for the combine to mow down...

Stay tuned.

Lee

[mu26aeh]

If you need another module, I have a piece from your old layout.  You're welcome to have it back


20160827_183117[1] by Adam Henry, on Flickr

[seusscaboose]

How's progress coming along?

[wm3798]

Tidied up a couple of details on the photo module, fixed up the cheesy street lights to make them look less cheesy, started touching up the highway areas, and prepping the lot for the gas station.
Today I've been messing with cleaning up the office layout, and started laying in the remaining trackwork. 

It's a slow process here, because the way I've got it built into the cabinet next to my desk, I have to pre-wire every blessed thing before I can install it.  The new switch has a tortoise under it, and I have to hook up the frog power and an indicator light as well as the power to the motor, then slip all that under the layout so I can reach it to install a control panel later.

Gives me some good experience planning ahead... something I'm not otherwise known for...

Lee

[wm3798]

Here's the office layout's big leap forward...  I've placed the far end of the run around track, and the tortoise that will operate it. 



I had picked up the Walther's deco overpass some time ago at a swap meet, I think it was in South Carolina last year, and it will carry the "main" in from the shelf section over my desk.  The near track on the overpass will be another industrial track of undetermined traffic.  Probably a coal dock or something like that.



Here's the improvement I made to the street lights... a little murky there in the foreground.  I filed the top of the post flat, then glued a piece of an old telegraph pole I had laying around to it, to make it look more rural, with the gray light fixture attached to a wood line pole.  Still a little chunky for the contest model circuit, but it will do fine to provide some light to the foreground without being too obtrusive.



And I dug out some details so I can work on the little Bier Garten in front of the brewery complex.  I can't imagine a tribute to Mike McGrattan without a bit of suds flowing...

Lee

[wm3798]

Finished the run around track downtown.  Just have to rig up the three switch throws in the yard and the base part of the layout will be fully functional.

Next to work on the fly over to connect to the shelf across my desk.

Lee

[Chris333]

Glad you are working on the layout again!

[davefoxx]

Glad you are working on the layout again!

Hear, hear!