I had been doing more wiring the last few days, and now have all the switches working again after the control panel move. I changed the wire going over the door for the #1 turnout and got it working, then chased down the problem with the #5 turnout. That one was simply a splice that had come undone on the power leg.
I also did some high voltage wiring the other day. I have two light switches that turn the layout on, one for track power, and the other for everything else. Each was supposed to be on its own 20A circuit, but I had been running it all off one. So I introduced the new circuit, but in the process, I created a problem, and the breaker has popped a couple times back at the panel. I have one outlet that needed to be moved to the new circuit. The trouble was I only had a single neutral wire in the conduit. Unfortunately, both circuits are on the same phase. I guess I have a couple options. I could either plug the track power into the other phase, and do a shared neutral, or I could add a second neutral and solve the problem that way. I'll figure it out.
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I didn't go downstairs today, but it wasn't a day without trains. I was invited to an operating session on an HO layout. My operations guru Gary had helped create this layout. Sadly, the guy who owned it passed away, but his widow has kept the layout for now. So this is kind of the farewell tour. There will probably be a couple more sessions before she pulls the plug. Gary has fallen in love with my layout, and it's pretty clear why. My layout reminds him of this layout, because it covers much of the same ground, with some differences.
It has been 30+ years since I have operated. I felt rather intimidated. My one advantage was that I recognized the track plan because it was so similar to mine. This was the real deal, with a dispatcher, radios, a fast clock and train orders. I had never operated in such a large and formal setting. I followed one of the guys around as he ran a train, asking a bunch of questions, including some as basic as how the DigiTrax throttles worked. Then they "threw me out of the boat" and gave me my own train. I didn't really pay any attention to the clock, I was just worried about not screwing up. After that, I ran a couple more trains, and by the end, I was getting kind of comfortable. I made some mistakes, including running a switch and running my train beyond its clearance, but I didn't kill anyone, so it was a good day.