The current work area is located in the center of the peninsula on the upper or third level of the layout. All of the track and turnouts for this area have been installed and it is now ready for the fun part, known as electrical installation.
This area on the peninsula represents Elizabeth City (EC), OK (a stand-in for Tulsa, OK). In order for a train to get to EC, (see picture #1) a train will first go through Michaelson Junction (a stand-in for Ottawa Jct., KS) and take the branch line that rises up over the West Helix arriving in the city of Michaelson (a stand-in for Ottawa, KS). The train then continues around the outside track on the upper level and arrives at Elizabeth City.
EC will have four (4) visible staging tracks, a stock feed lot, four (4) industry sidings, and a house track/siding by the passenger station and express building. Pictures 2 & 3 show the wall end of the peninsula and the locations of the staging tracks and stock feed lot. Please note one of the polarity (or phase) cars that I use in picture 3. Additionally, EC (or Tulsa) is meant to be a termination of trains that arrive, that is, their job will be completed and they will be manually turned for the next operational session. The trains will then exit the same way that they entered, around the long outside loop. When continuous run is needed, the trains will exit out the short yard ladder near the wall and go to Michaelson.
Picture 4 shows another view from the other side of the peninsula in which you can see the West Helix and the visible staging yard.
Picture 5 shows another view from the open end of the peninsula looking down the tracks of the visible staging yard. Please note that the buildings (from my previous layout) in the picture(s) were only placed to see if they might fit. The kit bashed REA Express building will probably go the Union Station area (yet to be built) near the East Helix. The lettering on the building’s sign was made from an Office Depot sign lettering kit.
Picture 6 shows the wall end of the yard ladder that would be used as an exit only for continuous run of trains. You will also see a good view of the Atlas insulated rail-joiners that are used for insulating between power blocks. These were used on the lower level staging yards and work really well. Sure they are ugly but they will eventually get some paint and mostly disappear.
Picture 7 is just another view of the visible staging yard and the stock feed lot location. You will also note the lonely Bachmann 52 foot long tender (got it on eBay) sitting on one of the yard tracks. It is destined to be a parts donor for my 4-8-4 project (can be seen in my last two YouTube videos). The long tender is 94 mm long vs the Con-Cor tender being 77 mm long. They are both the same in height and width. I am hoping that the extra length will permit a sound decoder (currently on order). But that is another story.
Picture 8 is an additional view of where the continuous run loop exit (when needed) joins the mainline coming from Michaelson along the back wall. For the peninsula, there were two possible designs, a stub terminal or a continuous run loop design. I wanted the ability to have continuous running (just in case) so this was built into the third level. The only problem is that it gives me another reversing loop that had to be addressed. Provisions for that reversing loop will be shown in part 2 of this layout update.
Picture 9 is a reminder of the electrical plan for the layout. As you may have noticed, there are several notes and scratch-outs where I found duplicate numbering for power blocks and/or other errors that needed to be corrected or tweaked. It is a living document but it is important in that it will enable me to troubleshoot issues when they arise.
The next part will show how the plans shown above get translated to the track, that is, where things are located, such as terminal strips, track feeders, auto-reversers, frog juicers, etc. It will be done as a slide show since it has a lot more pictures. My hope is to share my process for DCC electrical wiring that I have learned by doing it over the past couple of years. As usual, your comments and questions are welcome.
My YouTube channel is - https://www.youtube.com/user/tanzj
