I ordered my DCC Specialties PSX-AR Power Shield Auto Reverser from Streamlined Backshop. We'll see how long USPS Priority Mail takes to deliver it! In the meantime, I will start the wiring and adding gaps to handle the reversing portion.
"Beans, beans, the magical fruit; the more you eat 'em, the more you toot! The more you toot, the better you feel; so eat your beans at every meal!" Ahh, the rhymes of my childhood...
DCC Specialties PSX-AR due here on Saturday, so gotta get layout ready for it. Got the roadbed cut and gluing it in place! Progress!
So, I have the layout test wired in prep for the PSX-AR which was to have been delivered over an hour ago (according to USPS) and I decided to find the installation manual for it. Turns out I had the three sets of gaps all wrong. I was using insulating connectors which are all opposite each other and instead of having a 3/4" offset from one another! SH*T!!! So I spent part of my evening removing the insulated joiners, replacing them with regular ones, and then using my Dremel tool cutoff wheel to gap the tracks. I then ran a test train to ensure all was well. Now I wait on the auto-reverse.
Still no auto reverse, but I went to the "Great American Train Show's Great Midwest Train Show" at DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL today and got six turnouts, Atlas #4, Code 83 at $23 each with no tax, no shipping (obviously)! Needed a few more to substitute for some of my poorer ones. Yardwork can now start while I wait for the auto reverse.
Another video showing the completed cutoff after gaps have been cut to isolate the return loop. This is temporarily wired to the regular DCC line and thus the blocks on the track are to prevent running into a short condition at the gap covered by them.
And now video number 5! PSX-AR installed and operating (at least on a temporary basis). There is one bad area due to turnout that won't route power/DCC properly. Won't be any more videos for a while until all rail feeds have been added, and new sidings and yard work is done.
@BigJake - Thanks, it's been sitting dormant for a long time, I'm just glad to be making some progress!
New feeder wires near the bad turnout has solved the connection problem and the whole new section runs great, even without all the planned feeder wires. I've shifted focus to the inside of the loops now and have been using CadRail to plan the town section with the currently available buildings in my inventory, most of which need to be built/finished.
New sidings in place and functional. Had to fix one turnout as feeders have not been added yet and no current was getting through. Here is a picture of the soldering addition needed to fix. After the picture is a video of the first use of a siding.
I like it! Q: Just curious, but why do all the track work and structures appear to be on flexible risers (all of the same height), rather than a sheet or two of foam insulation board?
@BigJake - Andy, two reasons, I had it on hand as a result of my previous version on there, which was an over and under, and with both versions, because at the time of the original, it seemed to make sense to allow scenic depressions and valleys. Now I know could do the same, easier with foam, but why go to the expense, when I already have the risers?
That makes sense. What you already have on hand is always less expensive than what you would have to purchase! We don't often think of terrain levels below the base level track, but only that needed to support the track, or soar over it.