It has been a long and busy summer, but not for working on the railroad. The trackwork is reasonably stable now, having suffered a few more changes. Sitting with potation in hand mentally operating the railroad has been fruitful. Track in the mine area was extended and a cross-over added that enabled switching runarounds that would otherwise have proved difficult. An interchange track was added between the Tamworth extension (an area built on top of the helix) and the main. And the Deseronto yard got a small restructuring as well.

Have been thinking a lot about how the remote turnouts should be operated, considering that not all of them are visible from the control station. This led to a long wander through the world of CTC and prototype interlock practices. My original plan was to have individual buttons on a track diagram but my readings suggested that some simplification could be achieved by using routes to set groups of turnouts to a particular path. This is particularly true of the Yarker wye at the top of the helix that connects Sydenham, Tamworth and the mainline run to Deseronto together. Walking through the track plan helped me identify a number of opportunities for this approach as well as a few places where it was not appropriate. The Deseronto yard turnouts are all mechanically operated using HumpYard levers and flexible wire/tubing.  Just inside the yard throat was a double slip that was closely tied with the two entry turnouts -- easier to operate the slip with motors driven by routes through the entry turnouts. And simpler from an operator control perspective as well.

Been a pleasant and interesting diversion from my main project while glue set and paint dried. Am very much looking forwards to powering up the new track and testing the new turnouts with trains!