Well. This evening I got a complete circuit wired, the Down main line, or outer oval on the model layout. I ran a couple of locomotives to test everything and noticed that my Lee Marsh Jubilee didn't like one track connection in the hidden sidings.
Blue language ensued because I test and test again the Peco rail connectors/fishplates and this one got the better of me. Anyway, I got it fixed and it is weighted down with a couple of wine bottles in the video which is being uploaded (slowly) as I write this. All three hidden loops have been laid but not every section wired up. Also, none of the Tortoises have been wired up yet so there is still work to be done.
One negative comment - the sheets of plywood are acting as a sounding board that I didn't have with the open space Penmaenpool design. However, a lot of scenic work will dampen this down a bit. Some locomotives will cope with the background sound, some won't, so there is work to be done there as well.
The good news though, is that the Jubilee managed the curves just fine, including the super elevated curves.
The video is more a celebration of work done than an art form, particularly now that you see my "drone camera" set up in the middle of the room and other junk just lying around.
I decided to have the Large Prairie debut for the opening scene but with only two coaches. I should have added at least a couple more to be prototypical.
A quick tour. The movie starts with the train in the non scenic area. The scissor crossing comes just before the doorway lift section. Then the train passes the "Tyseley Turntable". The siding with all the goods wagons is actually the entrance to Moor Street, as yet unstarted. Penmaenpool's engine shed is temporarily placed on the layout but I have yet to decide if it should really be there. The train then moves along the "back straight" leading to the south portal of Snow Hill Tunnel where the points are, then past the wine bottles holding down the miscreant fishplates and then back to the start.
While waiting for the video to upload I will now admit to a new purchase. The David Andrews Castle kit has been identified at 5070 Sir Daniel Gooch but a couple of posts back I mentioned it would be 5014 Goodrich Castle. Well, that's because I switched my reservation for Lee Marsh's Manor to a Castle and it just happens to be Sir Daniel Gooch! So there will be the opportunity to see two Castles working to or past Moor street at the same time. Not that the build quality will be the same!
While I am waiting:
Excuse for another loco....
Simon, the Finney7 WC/BB is already on my shopping list! I remember both them and the MNs running past the Southampton University Hall of Residence in 1964 before they electrified the line to Bournemouth. Last days of steam, sigh nostalgically!
Meanwhile the upload is taking forever, so it will be in the next post.