Another year more modifications

2011-  Finally by this time engine stalls over the unpowered frogs of the turnouts was getting beyond annoying so some surgery was in order.  First I had to locate the powering point on the turnout under all the ballast, drill wiring holes and then solder wiring connections.  With that out of the way now how to change polarity of the frog bases on the throw of the turnout. I had thought about under the table electric switch boxes that can control the direction of the switch as well as polarity at the flick of a button but the price point was a major issue and it is a very small layout. So instead I went with simple micro single pole double throws after some trouble shooting I finally got the wiring the way I wanted it. The next question was were to mount the switches and as the pictures show below was my answer. I first drilled a hole for wire access then hot glued the switch in, next I added a little wire linkage connecting the switch to the turnout. Unfortunately the push rods I had been using weren't strong enough to move the switch so I simply decommissioned them and now just flip the switch to move the turnout direction. I later found this much easier at train shows to switch the track because I wouldn't need to be bending over from the rear of the layout to reach the front push rods.

One thing I always wanted to do was add some water to the layout, though I never really planned for it at the beginning I figured I could work it in some where along the way. Thanks to the layers of cork it made it easy to dig out some ditches down to the base wood then paint it up. Then for the water part I decided to try some thing different, hot glue. It was mildly successful in thin layers to imitate the look of a running stream but as the thicker the layer the more it loses its sheen and just looks like a cloudy mess. So I left it with intentions of coming back and redoing it.

Home made dumpster

I added back drop scenery using clippings of advertising of model building kits from train magazines and catalogs, simply finding the pictures with the right perspectives and depths of field then cutting them out and using spray adhesive to apply them.

A Light Work USA neon animated sign, very neat light show sign, one down side is the high pitched noise it lets off while cycling.