On one of the hottest days of the year so far, we decided to have an impromptu day on the layout to try and push things forward to a conclusion.
First job was to construct the legs, the layout now sits at just over a metre high, which is perfect working height for me!
Once all the legs were finished we assembled all six boards together and I was able to work on some of the minor electrical gremlins, like why the shuttle signal at the main station end didn't work (because I hadn't connected it underneath) and why the shuttle stopped short of the station (because I hadn't wired that either!)
Having the boards on legs meant that I could figure these problems out without disconnecting the boards and flipping them over. Discovered that the green aspect of the shuttle signal wouldn't work and this is an internal fault on the signal so I'll just replace it and repair the other one at my leisure.
Some issues with track alignment on the rear fiddle yard. I had expected a problem here due to the way that I'd hastily laid the track, most of the issues were resolved relatively easily but some of the tracks that had to be cut across the board joins will need further attention and a dab of epoxy on the centre rails to keep them in place.
Although we were testing on a slope, the shuttle and two main loops performed well.
The village station needs a building and footbridge, I have spares in the loft but the bridge will need to be painted to match the rest of the sahara beige buildings.
The only major project remaining is to complete the upper loop.
Considering that this layout was only planned in March, we think we've done pretty well to advance to this stage. We wanted it ready by October!
No further all-day sessions are deemed to be needed now.
Of course I had to take a video of the first trains running the entire layout for the first time:
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