More power to you!

Following my recent decision to try and get some regular multiple operator op sessions happening on the CSFT, I decided to try and re-wire some of the turnouts on the thoroughfare track so that they could be operated remotely via a central control panel.

Before we moved about 2 years, there was a control panel with a number of turnouts able to be operated from it. So I re-attached it to the layout and proceeded to re-wire the turnouts and the control panel. Three of the turnouts were re-wired, all of them on the Calumet South / Interchange East module which has the east end of the Calumet South Siding, and the entrance to the yard.

Three more remain to be done - one at Dolton Junction at the entrance to the Staging spurs which also needs a turnout motor, and two at Forest Junction:

• Westbound access switch to the Forest Junction team tracks and Petra Stone spur. This turnout does not currently have a turnout motor, so the motor has to be installed first before the electrics are done
• The Forest Junction switch. This turnout has a motor, it just needs to be re-wired into the control panel.

I am not sure whether I will have the switches to control the two Forest Junction turnouts on the main control panel, or on a smaller control panel at Forest Junction, or maybe switches on the main control panel AND a smaller control panel at Forest Junction. I am leaning towards having a smaller panel at Forest Junction, with maybe a power switch on the main panel to allow activation and deactivation of the Forest Junction panel.

It might also be worthwhile having some sort of indication of which turnouts are remotely controlled on the layout itself. One idea is to have a small sign with an 'M' on it right next to the turnout, or maybe a 'fake' turnout motor next to the turnout.

Another possibility is the inclusion of some form of signal indication (maybe between the rails) to indicate how a turnout is set. A friend of mine mentioned some years back that he was thinking of doing the same thing. At the time I didn't really like the idea, but I now feel the idea has some merit. Some colorlight dwarf signals might be an interesting option.

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to look 'under the hood' of an exhibition layout. And I noticed that the owner of that layout used automotive electronics connectors to connect the various modules together. Ever since, I have used these types of connectors. But during this re-wiring adventure I also used a 4 pin linear PC drive power plug as a way of wiring in the common ground. This means that the turnout actuator circuits are all in the same connector set, and the common ground has it's own plug.

The control panel itself has seen better days! I didn't even bother cleaning the dust off it, but will at some point before the next op session. To simplify the wiring, I took out the switches that would not be used. And then I attacked the panel with a texta to label what electrical switch related to what turnout. The end result is a bit messy but will do for now! I think a new panel front is necessary! A perspex one would look nice and some computer generated lettering to identify the switches would go a long way to making it look good.

To install the control panel I had to move the location of one of the DCC controllers. So I decided to insert a small screw on the side of the control panel as a place to hold the controller when it isn't in use.

When the control panel was last used I had installed a 19V Laptop power supply to provide power for the turnouts. This still runs well and powers the turnouts, but I did make some minor changes to the wiring that comes out of the power supply. There was one switch that was powering two turnouts. And often the points on one of the turnouts would not move due to insufficent power from the power supply, so I wired those two turnouts separately with their own switch on the control panel.