New layout: Progress 22/6/14

Difficult to provide any updates with no internet at home for over three weeks.

Scenery work is progressing well, with boards one and two nearing completion, work has begun on board three since this picture was taken two weeks ago.

As for the (complex) wiring, progress is as follows:

Board One - 100%
Board Two - 0%
Board Three - 90%
Board Four - 100%
Board Five - 75%
Board Six - 75%

We have another all-day session planned for this Saturday, our aim by the end of the next session is to have all wiring completed and trains running around the shuttle and two main loops.

The shuttle has proven to be troublesome, it's designed to be used on a stand-alone track, isolated from the rest of the layout. I used common return wiring to reduce the amount of wiring back to the control panel, which the shuttle module doesn't like. Also found that when the shuttle module is turned off, it doesn't return power to the track via the controller in the normal way. I've had to make two more relay circuits, which will be wired into the control switch for the shuttle module. I'll need to cut the fishplates further down the layout to isolate it from the rest of the system but use another relay pcb to allow the whole track system to be used manually if desired.

Had a quick test of the shuttle module using board one and one of the Bachmann EPBs - the train stops in perfect position and the signal operates. Hopefully by the end of Saturday the entire length of the shuttle will be fully functional.

I've been bringing the boards indoors individually to wire them, the task of wiring the fiddle yards has been complicated due to the amount of sidings I've added and to maintain sufficient track isolation via the points (to avoid more switches) the individual tracks have to be wired via the 37 pin connectors across each board.

Many, many hours of soldering have gone into these boards with this becoming a nightly project - board one took in excess of 7 hours to wire completely once the shuttle problem had been resolved. The wires and soldered joins have been prepared ready for installation which should speed up wiring the final board. Once this Saturday's session is finished, we don't plan to do any further all-day sessions until summer is over so it's important to get as much work done as we can.