I have some Atlas bumpers with lights on top, but they don't fit the Ross tracks too well. I'm going to build some out of Ross cross ties of which I have a whole bag just for this purpose. I'm very careful moving them into the sidings just for that reason... no bumpers.
Tonight, I was able to finish the control panel installation of all switch controllers and run the 14vac feeder from the fixed tap on the Z-4000 transformer. I then added some more cable ties to bunch the wires together and make it easier to lift them clear of the hinge line when I finally close and secure the panel front.
Here's the panel in final form with all it's wiring in place. There's over 380 leads with terminations on both ends. No wonder it looks ridiculous.
And here's the inside. I've added as many cable ties as makes sense. In my days working at the long-gone, Fischer and Porter Co., they made control panels for chemical, water-treatment, and power plants. The guys that built them were "artists" in the truest sense of the word. Even more impressive than the electronic instrument panel boards were the pneumatic ones. In them, every tube was bent perfectly, nested with others and it was amazing to see them go together. This panel is NOT one of them. But one of the challenges I had was having the front panel pull forward, and being rather thin Plexiglass. If I was wiring it from the back, I would have run the leads more uniformly and fastened them to the panel.
Here's the barrier strips fully loaded with all 26 switch leads. Now I'll bring the field wiring in. They will fasten on the other size of the barriers; green to green, yellow to yellow, but now there will be an additional red lead that will tie into the 14vac power buss. I bought some more wire today at The Home Depot, a decent, 4-conductor phone wire. It's round in cross-section so I bought a Klein radial stripper to make it a little easier taking the insulation off.
You can see the 14vac jumper running from buss to buss. The transformer also has a 10 VAC fixed output which I may use for house lighting and other scenery applications.
Next work session will methodically bring in the field wiring from all 26 switches and we'll be in the train running business. When that happens it will be almost a full year to bring the Pennsylvania and Pacific RR back to life. I thought I could do it faster, but this is about what it takes.
