I bought some 1/8" plastic tubing to create a conduit for the turnout throw wire for the right rear turnout of the double crossover. This particular turnout will have to be thrown from the front of the crossover because there is no room at the rear for the ground throw. This has been a concern to me, not because the wire would not throw the turnout. It does throw the turnout and works quite well. What concerned me was that the wire has to pass under the front track, and when (IF!) I get to the ballasting stage I would have to leave that section un-ballasted. I would prefer not to do that, but I don't want to impede the operation of the ground throw.
Yesterday, on YouTube, I saw a video where a guy used a piece of plastic tubing under the track to guide and protect the wire, so that's what I did. I cut a groove into the foam roadbed and laid a section of tubing in it. I glued the tubing in with Titebond glue. The end of the tubing nearest the turnout needs to have just a little bit of movement in it as the wire is not perfectly straight. There are two turnouts in line with each other on each end of the crossover, so the wire has to make a slight bend to get to the ground throw. When I ballast the track that will help hold the tubing in place even better. I used plastic tubing instead of brass because the tubing has to curve to follow the wire.
I think it turned out pretty well. I'll take a black marker and color the tube after the glue has dried. That should hide it fairly well until I get everything ballasted.
The tubing under the track.
The other side of the double crossover has plenty of room for a ground throw at each turnout.
I also corrected a silly wiring mistake I had made when hooking up the NCE Powercab to the main bus. For the wires from the cab to the bus, I used 18 gauge wire. Now, mind you, the main bus is 14 gauge wire. This is like hooking up a garden hose to a fire hydrant! Why did I do this? I do not know! I have an automatic switch unit for the programming track between the Powercab and main bus. To wire this for constant voltage to the programming track, the feeder wires must be spliced into the power wires from the Powercab to the switch. Two more wires then run from the output terminals of the switch to the main bus. The power leads for the programming track are about 36" long. So what did I make them from? If you said 18 gauge wire, you win a free internet smiley, and here it is:
So I un-soldered the programming track leads and cut the wires coming from the switch to the main bus. I use suitcase connectors for wiring to the main bus (my back won't take soldering under there! ) so cutting the wires is the only option if something has to be redone.
I managed to get the solid 14 gauge wires into the terminals on the Powercab connector and the switch. It took some pushing, but they're in there! 16 gauge would go easier, but remember the garden hose/fire hydrant thing?
I also ran 14 gauge to the programming track. There should be no signal loss now! I soldered the 14 gauge to the outside of the rails. I suppose I could have gone 18 gauge as a feeder to the 14 gauge track power wires, but why?
The connections from the power panel to the switch. You can see the rear edge of the power panel circuit board at top left. The power connector is at the right edge of that. The 14 gauge wires leading to the programming track are tied into the wires from the connector to the switch, which has it's backside covered with a piece of duct tape to prevent accidental electrical contact. The output wires to main bus come off the right side of the switch. The programming track wires run through the hole in the middle of the 1x4 crossmember, to the right of the terminal strip.
The black wires are from the turnout frogs, but they don't enter into this story!
Starting tomorrow, it's back to 10 hour days at work, so railroad time is going to be even more limited than it is now. Oh, well. I have the rest of my life to get this done, right?
