Time for a break from soldering

I can only install so much wiring at a time. I'm not ADD, but wiring has very little obvious results.

So, after a few hours of wiring, it was time to run more test trains.

I ran the same test train that I used on the east end of East Staging. The results were excellent!

Next up will be to get a 20 car train running thru to further test the trackwork.

As another part of a series of diversions, I attended SoCalOps in Southern California. I operated on three excellent railroads. Although only one was SP. That was Jon Cure's Inyo Sub. Ironically, what job did me, the SP guy draw? Santa Fe! Regardless, I had a great time. Jon is a wonderful host and has a very fun railroad.

I also met my best friend and his family in Ventura for dinner while I was there. I've known my friend Scott since I was three. That's over 50 years. Ugghhh...

I also took the opportunity to do some rail fanning and some research. The city of Ventura has three railroad bridges. On the south end, in the middle, and on the north end. I will be modeling the south end and middle bridges on my railroad. The middle bridge goes over the CA Hwy 101. Uniquely, the truss bridge is offset by 20 degrees or so (that's a guess). So as I arrived in Ventura early, I used the extra time to shoot pix of the bridge. Here are a few pix

 While I won't model all sections of the bridge, I will model the character of the bridge as it's a great reference point for Ventura.

Now, back to soldering!

And the wiring continues...

After my last post, I received some good feedback from folks. As I continue the wiring, I decided that in addition to the jumpers I will add feeders to every other piece of track. The wiring I did on the Exeter Branch used the same process with jumpers. However, since the East staging tracks will be covered by the main level, I've opted to be more cautious.

As I mentioned in my last post, what I did realize that I neglected to get track bus wire. So...off to the internet. I have planned to use 12 AWG stranded wire. I wanted to use automotive primary wire as opposed to the THHN wire available at Home Depot. Two differences exist: 1) Primary wire has more strands 2) the case on primary wire is soft and pliable versus the hard plastic on THHN. Thus, it's much easier so strip the wire for adding feeders. I ordered 1000' of white and 1000' of blue. Yes, I like that better then red and black

. I use the lighter colored wire on the aisle side. My feeders are red/green or white/blue. Why? Because those are the colors on the spool. I used the same color combination on the Exeter Branch. 

Feeder wiring continues. As I mentioned previously, it's a thank less job as you don't see any significant results. But, it's critical for a well running railroad. 

Wiring - the tedious task - part 1 of many

Now that the East Staging yards trackage is complete, it's now time to do wiring. While I don't mind doing the wiring, it's just so tedious and there is little to no visible result! However, electrical reliability is key to a well running DCC railroad. Dead Rail friends, you don't need to provide input here.

I'm a firm believer in not depending on rail joiners to provide any electrical connectivity. Frankly, in my world, they are only for track alignment. In the same manner as the Exeter Branch, I will ensure each piece of track has feeders. No matter how small.

For staging I've adjusted that just a bit. I'm using one set of feeders for every 3 sections of track. To connect the sections I solder jumpers on each side of the rail joiners. Staging has less use and I'm not as concerned about the wiring being 'pretty'. I will attach the feeders to the track bus below staging. I want to minimize my time under the lowest level of staging.

I'm pretty sure I have enough feeder and jumper wire for the railroad, but I still need to pick up stranded 12 AWG wire for all my track bus wires. That is poor planning on my part as I should have already had it on hand.

Once all the feeders are done and connected to the track bus, I will resume testing of staging.