Cutting in UNION

 Once we finished ICE HOUSE, we returned to UNION. If you recall, when this interlocking was built, we lined and spiked the switches until we could come back and cut the interlocking in. 

We started by installing the switch machines. This went smoothly for the Track 3 and Track 1 switches. The same can't be said for the Track 2 and Track 4 switches. These two machines needed to placed directly above the layout control panel. We very carefully unscrewed the control panel and lowered it down in order to install the switch machines. Another issue was the machines needed to face each other, less than three inches apart. This made screwing the throw bars in place extremely difficult. Adapt and overcome. 

We then returned the control panel to its home and moved onto wiring the signals. We chose to use a pair of G-type signals on the west end of the interlocking with a pair of dwarf signals for Track 3 and Track 4. A signal bridge is used for the east end of UNION

When we installed the G-type signals, we noticed the wiring was extremely short. Just long enough to reach through the foam and plywood but not long enough to wire to the control board. These G-type signals are made by Atlas and have a small 4-pin connector on the end of the wires. A quick trip to Cables & Connectors in Newington, CT was in order. It took all of two minutes to find what we were looking for. 

Now with the wiring extended, we were able to connect it TSMK boards. From there we moved onto the dwarf signals, which is pretty straightforward. Once all the signals were wired, we wired the switch machines to the SE8C. We used Acculites SNAPS boards on the Tortoise machines and an Acculites breakout board on the SE8C. This made wiring as simple as screwing the wires in. We then ran the signal driver cables from the SE8C to the various signals. 

Once we finished wiring. It was time to power up the SE8C. Let there be light!

Building ICE HOUSE

 After taking a little break from construction, we got back to it recently. With not much left to construct short of building more benchwork, we decided to finish everything up before Christmas. 

Picking up where we left off, the track had been laid into the curve east of where ICE HOUSE (CP100) would be. Before we could continue, more foam had to be put down on top of the plywood. 

After letting it set overnight, we returned to mark out where the track would be placed and laid the roadbed. Once that had set, we started laying the track. 

Some slight modifications were made to the original design. We realized there would be a problem with the yard lead switch off Track 4. So we extended Track 4 west a bit and reconfigured the crossovers. ICE HOUSE features universal crossovers and switches off Track's 3 and 4. All the switches have been lined and spiked in the normal position. We are leanding toward using G-type signals on the east end of the interlocking, dwarfs on Track 3 and Track 4 and a signal bridge on the west end of the interlocking.