Continue with wiring on the two new exhibition boards.
Assess the new control panel.
A full house today. The two new exhibition boards - engine shed and masons yard - were set up on some trestles to allow Geoff and Stephen to work on a board each. The tails from the two 20-way cinch plugs needed to be terminated in basic connector strips, screwed to the baseboard. Geoff quietly introduced a new tool - a box of 'bootlace ferules' and a crimping tool. After giving Stephen and Laurence a demo of the wonderful system, he rapidly completed securing the tails and went on to wring up the sections. Getting right into the wiring schedule, track breaks and sections, a few minor mods were made. Stephen followed suit with the engine shed board, although a little way behind.
The different sized ferrules receive the stripped and twisted cable ends, which were crimped in the bespoke tool. Multiple wires can be fitted in the larger diameter ferrules. A very fast and secure system.
In the meantime, and using Stephen's various sketch options for the control panel, Laurence started to work out an optimum size for the new panel case. The result will be laid out full-sized, next week. When agreed, the casing and a mock top to test the switch layouts will be produced.The 6 new boards now have a home, albeit in temporary format. After selling his beloved Standard 10 car, the garage now offered more storage space. A rack has partly been vacated and the boards can be stored in their non-scenic guises until the rest of the rack can be freed up. The two exhibition boards and two of the adapter boards will have scenery, and will require appropriate vertical space, but the 2 'exchange' boards can be stacked together.
