I don't know much about line locations, other than the minimum distance from the rails, as prescribed in the D&RGW Standard Plans. https://www.drgw.net/gallery/v/DRGWStandardPlans/drgw_standardplans_p290.png.html I largely followed proto photos for placement.
I wouldn't blame you if you didn't add the lines Hemi. Not sure I'd have the patience for it either and then you'd get into the issue of always bumping them when cleaning or working on the layout. Imagination is a strong modeling medium.
Ok, so it's been a LONG time since the last update, but life really got in the way. A week of double digits below zero temps and obscene wind chills had me holed up indoors, so what else to do but work on the layout... I'm not an electrical engineer and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I basically dreaded wiring up the new signals. The leads that connect the LEDs (say that 5 times fast) are absolutely minuscule. They are about 40 awg, magnet wires coated with varnish. They are surprisingly strong for their size, but are essentially very fragile, and difficult to handle and connect. They solder well, and being ultra fine, they can't take much heat. The tricky part is stripping the coating off to tin them. No flux I tried would remove it. A hotter iron either wouldn't burn it off, or melted thru the conductor. I had the painstakingly scrape the coating off with a hobby knife blade held perpendicular. Too much pressure and the blade cut the wire... Once the magnet wires were tinned, I tested them with an old power pack. They all thankfully worked! I soldered the leads to heavier wire, some red, black, green and yellow wire I stripped from some computer cable. The colors of the heavier wire matches the LED color for ease of identification later. Lastly, I labeled everything. I mocked everything up for some quick pics, so don't mind the switch thrown incorrectly... Just a sneak preview... West Crescent: East Crescent:
I have always had success holding the tip end of the wire to a fresh blob of solder with plenty of rosin flux still in the mix. The solder will seep in the cut end under the varnish and burn it off. Work the end of the wire in and out of the blob and the varnish ash will float away on top of the solder leaving a nice tinned end to the wire.
That looks awesome! Do your signals just indicate switch state, or also track occupancy/clearance/etc.? What kind of hardware/system are you using to control them?
Hoss, the track is Atlas c55 flex and #7 turnouts. No occupancy detection or circuitry yet, eventually I will automate it. I also have Showcase Miniatures crossing signals to build and install. Those would also have occupancy detection. I have no idea what to use to automate everything, Right now I just wanted to get the block signals installed and operating at a very basic level.
Dang...that's making me reconsider the track I want to use for the layout I'm about to start. I've been planning to use Peco c55 but what you have sure does look good. And it's cheaper.
Very nice scene Hemi! Those signals look sharp. But I don't envy you having to wire them up. I've got several I need to install on my layout but they are going to be just constant lit, so no logic control.
Love seeing your images of a model/location I know. Last time I visited Rainbow Gap I snagged several jars worth of "scenery material" because there are so many nice natural stone colors there. At some point all that rock will end up on a layout or module.
Geeky, I did the same, at the top of the rock shoulder on the side of the mountain that Tunnel 17 bores through. I have a bagful of accurate scenic material. I used it to fill talus at west Crescent's cut.
Now I know why you recognized the photo location when I posted it on the tunnels thread. https://www.trainboard.com/highball...a-little-tunneling.156932/page-5#post-1317353
Great looking stuff!! No rush on getting the signals automated, heck having them operated manually just adds to the fun! And means less soldering time under the layout....
Train #742, the eastbound Phippsburg-Denver catch-all (small carload shippers, returning empties to Denver, etc), has a high green to run thru the East Crescent plant, and Tunnel 18:
