Update

The cool temperatures have settled in and work on the railroad has picked up. I have completed wiring all of the drops from the tracks to the power bus. Recall that I am using a Lenz Set 90 DCC system, so the wiring is very basic and almost too easy! I wired almost each section of track. I say almost because there are some runs of continuous flex track where several sections have been soldered together and in those areas, I have only run one set of drops to the power bus. Basically every piece of track between turnouts or stub-ended sidings has power wired to it. This makes for a very very smooth operation. I have not experienced any stuttering of locomotives, headlight blinking or stalled engines.

My next project is to wire the programming track for the DCC system. A programming track is used to program or encode the decoder in a locomotive. This involves things like the address for the engine on the DCC system and other variables that can effect the operation of the locomotive. The program track needs to be either completely separate from the railroad (i.e. mounted on a workbench) or part of the railroad but electrically isolated from the rest of the railroad. I have decided that the interchange track at Walnut would be a good place for the program track on my railroad.

In order to use a track that is physically attached to the rest of the railroad, I will have to electrically isolate it from the rest of the railroad, as mentioned above. To do this, I will cut the rails and use CA glue to glue in a small piece of plastic to act as an insulator. The next step is to wire a toggle switch that will control the power to just that piece of track. The toggle switch is a three-position switch with the center position OFF. The center terminals on the switch will be wired to the track. One side of the switch will be normal track bus power, allowing for normal operation. These terminals will be wired from the normal track bus already in place under the railroad. The other side of the switch will be wired directly from the Command Module and will be programming track power. This switch will allow me to then move a locomotive onto the programming track under normal operations, reposition the toggle switch through the off position to the programming position, program the locomotive, and then return it to the normal position and run the locomotive back onto the mainline.

That's it for now!
Thanks,
Scott