Space Cleared... Electrical Progress!

With the current pandemic the world is in, governments advising to stay indoors, what better is there to do than to get some wiring done?

It's been over a year since my last post, but after having cleaned out the garage for a day and recovering the stored electricals of the layout. This included the control panels for the turnouts, wiring for the track, and lighting.

As for the control panels, only one of these (the biggest of the four) controls the section of Gunnedah that is being restored. After some examination of this particular panel, plus the other three, plugs were reconnected into the appropriate sockets to control the correct sets of points on the layout. Unfortunately, as not the entirety of the section that the panel in question controls was kept, a fair few points are left surplus. A few will be added back in soon to ensure that all tracks are connected in some way.

The rolls of wire that had been previously stored in boxes were laid out and examined. The blue wiring used for the lighting has been set aside for later once trains are able to traverse the layout. The black and red wiring, on the other hand, was examined further, hung up against the layout and cut where needed.

After digging out the power supply and transformer (supposedly) used on the layout, the track was tested for its voltage output, with some positive results. The track was then cleaned, allowing trains to run on the track (almost) smoothly and with few problems. I may have to relay the track as some joins are not in great shape and some sections have lifted, likely due to damage from transport from the previous owner's home a year ago and subsequent storage.

For a couple of days I was left puzzled on what to do about the control panel. Though I had wired up the panel itself, it didn't switch any points. The answer was simple. The power supply for the point motors was missing a plug which allowed it to be directly connected to the control panel itself. Once this was able to be done, the LED lights on the panel lit up, and points adjusted to their default positions. 

After some testing of the points and repairs were made where needed, I can happily say that the layout is operational. I will upload photos shortly of the progress on the layout, as well as of some, unusual visitors to the track which I tested over the past few days.