Big Weekend

A momentous event!

Having completed the track last weekend, I wired it up this weekend, with only one wiring fault to speak of, and that was because I soldered the red and black wire onto a bit of track correctly, and then decided to use that same wiring in a different place, but unfortunately I reversed the tracks! Simply fixed though.

With the track successfully wired and a standard DC controller attached I used my multimeter to ensure everywhere had power, which it did. So, then came the moment I've been waiting for, testing my new (and first) completed track with one of my five new locomotives, under DC for the time being, partly because the locos need testing under DC and running in, and partly to test the track reliability.

What follows are photos of the completed layout, with my Black 5 hauling five coaches.! :)



The left side is the town/winter scene and the right side is the beach/summer scene. At the far end you can see the fiddle yard and sidings.





The cork underlay looks untidy but I intend to trim it down at a later date. I used the Black 5 for testing as it seem to be the one that derailed the most. So using that, I figured if I fixed the problem areas of the track for that then it should be OK for the other engines! Surprising there seemed to only be one or two problem areas, usually down to slightly uneven track. By the end the Black 5 was running smoothly. I also tested my 3mt tank and my Class 108 3 car DMU. The 108 is brilliant!

Unfortunately I came across something else that put a dampener of the event. Two of my 5 new engines are faulty. The Jubilee 'Mars' will only run backwards (albeit very well!) and The Royal Air Force doesn't move at all and causes the controller to cut out. I'm sure they could be fixed, its probably to do with the gears, but that's not the point, these are brand new and I expect them to work from the box. So a call will go in tomorrow to get them replaced.