My RR doesn't have a name but the two industries are oil and lumber. I found this book called "Sawmills Among The Derricks" which covers the mix of oil and lumbering in PA. So for short I call my layout the SAD line. Someday I'm gonna have to figure a catchy name...
The SAD line has 98% of the trackwork done and I am working on wiring 27 turnouts and a similar number of B&O style color-position signals. I thought I'd share my methods and ask if anyone can see any shortcuts through this rats nest of wiring.
First the turnouts...GRJ suggested using cat5 wiring with RJ45 connectors. As Daffy Duck used to say "dat sounds logical" (you have to slobber while saying it). So each turnout has an adapter buried next to it with a bare wire to RJ45 adapter, thus:
As you can see, I am still working on burying some of the adapters. To ensure solid connections, I crimped tiny ferrules on the ends of the DZ-2500 wires before tightening them into the adapters.
The cat5 runs to several AIUs which hang on the edges of the layout at different locations to keep the wire runs short. I don't do ANYTHING under the layout if it can be avoided. The thing you see here holding the AIU is actually a magazine rack designed to hang on the side of a toilet so you can keep your serious reading material organized--or hang your AIUs where you want them.
On the signals side of the house, I could not make cat5 and RJ45 work. The tiny wires coming from the old NJI signals are frustrating. And every signal is different. The basic B&O CPL signal has 5 wires--proceed green, approach yellow and stop red plus one marker lunar white for speed, and a ground wire. Non-basic NJI CPL signals can have 3 to six markers. Some signals are bi-directional, doubling the connections needed, others have heads on two masts. So wiring the signals gets...uh...interesting.
Signaling on the SAD line is strictly for entertainment value and does not control train operation. Signal control is managed by two old ABS/NJI "Blockmaster" controllers with buffers that allow one signal connection to control multiple signals. The Blockmaster connections are made with 10-point ribbon cables so that is what I am using to run to each signal head. 10 conductor ribbon cable is actually cheaper than cat5.
I made little breakout boards using 10-point headers to let me solder any signal onto one (or in extreme cases two) breakout board. Following the standard (?) set by the Delmarva club, I can wire any marker to any aspect. Delmarva wires green to the top marker, yellow to the bottom marker and no markers to red. It ain't scientific, but it works--otherwise the markers would never display at all because the Blockmaster only controls signal aspects--it doesn't know the markers even exist.
The breakout boards fit into a plastic pill bottle under the signal. So the signal is mounted to the bottom of the pill bottle using glue or a tiny nut and bolt. For what they charge for drugs, I need to use the empty bottles for SOMETHING! If you check the pix above, you can see the pill bottles under each signal.
So that is what I am doing on the SAD line. If anyone wants to lighten my load by suggesting alternative approaches, I'm all ears.
Don Merz
