Well, it was sort of a golden spike moment. I did decide to do the 4 way yard as you can see from the pictures below. The inner two yard rails are connected. The outer 2 require some track cutting.
Now to cut track, I put a DeWalt fiber blade in my chop saw. And I cut a piece of Ross track and it had a lot more sparking and a burning smell than I remembered. So I called my buddy Bob, who said that’s normal. He also advised me not to leave flammable fluids near the saw when I was cutting track (like the mineral spirits I use for track cleaning). He said the sparking and the smell is OK as long as I do not smell burning flesh. Makes sense to me. I’ve got a bit more cutting to do, but this time Atlas track. And that’s solid, not hollow.
Hopefully I have insulating pins where they belong so each of the sidings can be controlled by the AIU which I will use to trigger a relay. I’ve done that before and I’ve read many posts about how fast the DCS signal does or doesn’t get to an engine on a siding. All I can say is that I’ve never had a problem with that.
All the appropriate wiring has been dropped. It’s not connected to anything, but it’s been dropped. Of course, one of the wires on a lead in switch motor for the 4 way switches came off right away. I’ve never soldered one of them, but somewhere I have the screws which fit in there and hopefully let me attach a replacement wire. It’s always something. But it’s coming along. I am pleased with the progress to this point.
Once I complete the 2 outside tracks on the 4 way sidings, the only track remaining to be connected will be to each end of the double crossover. And then I’ll certainly want to run some trains. But with no power through the 4 way sidings, I’m going to have to wait until I get that stuff connected and wired in. Talk about motivation.
Gerry
