Update to the A.P.R.R. - Richmond Hill Engine Terminal

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad! 

As many of you know, the NMRA/NER Convention Open House Layout Tour is less than 30 days way and one of the areas that I wanted to be finished was the lower level engine terminal. While the tracks were in place, the diesel house tracks were not live, and there was an issue with the two of the turntable tracks. 

In order to get this completed, I needed a control panel for this area. One that would control the turntable storage track (6 of them) and the engine house tracks (5 of those). 

This project was started on Thursday night. First step was to create the panel. It would have mini toggle switches and light indicators. 

While this was ready to go, the next step was to go back into the train room and start the soldering process of both tracks and wires. 

Wires were soldered in and heat sinks were attached to the tracks as I went along. I had engines on all 5 tracks, so the extra precaution was taken.

Once soldered in, the next step was to get the mini toggle switches and light indicators soldered and wired in. 

With the soldering iron at the ready, and the mini toggle switches being held with a 'third hand device', I proceeded to solder 22AWG solid wire to them, both black and red. 

Here's what they look like prior to going back into the panel. The black wire, while in the photo shows on the right, when looking at it from the panel side, it's on the left. All of my outside rail tracks have black wires on them, inside has red.  

The same process was applied to the indicator lights, which I bought off EBay. They are rated at 24V AC/DC, so it doesn't matter which one goes where, even though I use the black to the black terminals, red to red terminals.  Below are terminal strips and all wires are attached with #6 spade connectors. A total of 66 solder connections as well as 66 spade connectors were used over 2 days. I think I don't want to look at any more wires for a while. 

The last part of terminal, and probably the most important part, is the turntable. This model, is the first model that Walthers made in ready to use, and I have a 90' turntable on the layout. Later models were made to use both DC or DCC. This model was made for DC and later on they made a new controller so that earlier models could upgrade. The cost to do that was another $200! Not for me! 

In the DCC world, they make auto reversers, and the one I use is made by DCC Specialties, a PSX-AR. I have 11 of them on the railroad and they all work flawlessly. However, using it with the turntable, was going to be the ultimate test. Below is the unit mounted adjacent to the turntable control panel. I am using 18AWG stranded from the track buss to the input as well as from the output to the turntable. 

Once wired in, the layout was powered up and tested. Switcher engine #110 was called to duty. A short wheel base, and we tested it on all 11 tracks, including the 4 where the auto reverser flips the track power instantly, avoiding a short circuit on the layout. 

We are good to go! This was a major project that I spent the entire weekend doing. Now keep in mind that sitting under the layout, with my legs crossed, takes a toll on you. I had to get up after each set of installs as my foot was going numb or as they say, falling asleep. This was a labor of love and I'm looking forward to having my friend NJ John, my electronics guru, be the first to test it. 

Onward to the next project for the open house!