Friday, June 14, 2013

Getting closer to being ready for Ops!

Trevor Marshall came to visit today and help out with some tasks on the layout.
First job was selecting the best locations for the Fast Clocks.
We determined that with the layout configuration, that one in each of the 4 corners of the room would suffice. Operators will be able to view a clock with a small turn of the head from anywhere in the layout room.
I had purchased 4 of these clocks and controller from GML Enterprises based upon a suggestion  from Trevor. He'd bought some from them before and was very pleased. I prefer the look of these clocks over digital clocks. They look "railroady" and it is 1951 in my basement. Long before digital clocks were in vogue.

The other major project was getting the train order board in Jarvis functional. At first I wasn't going to have functioning train order boards, but as I've been thinking about operations more and more, I've come to realize that they are essential.
I'd already purchased train order boards from Tomar, and they offer an accessory for actuating the train order board itself. The unit is based upon a Tortoise slow motion machine with Circuitron linkages and a little electronics magic.
 While a tad fiddly to install, the system works as advertised. We spent about 3 hours all together getting the units working. With the first one done later units should go faster. (Famous last words)

I use a 3 position rotary switch to control the position of the train board. Once the fascia is painted, there will be labels for indicating which position is which along with eastbound vs westbound.
 No orders in both directions.

 Form 19 orders for the westbound.

 Form 19 orders for the eastbound.

 Form 31 orders for the eastbound.

Form 31 orders for the westbound.
It's starting to feel like a railroad down there!

No comments: