Panel Progress

The last of the new pushbutton panels has been installed, or at least those that are in the railroad room. Both the west end and east end staging panels, which are out in the crew lounge, will be replaced at some point. But for now, I'm declaring victory!

The photo below shows the new panels at Hollister Yard in North Pierce.

Replacing the old panel was a bit of work as three new RCS cards needed to be installed and wired. Additionally, electronic DPDT switches had to be installed to route power to the frogs as most of the turnouts in the yard are still controlled by Hankscraft motors. But it was worth the effort- compare the photo below of the old panel with the one above.

The new panels are significantly smaller than the old one which allowed me to cut back the shelf. This in turn provided a little more room in the aisle in this area. The difference is evident in the photo below.

And while all of this was underway, I took some time to do some additional scenery work. The photo below shows the west end of the Nelsonville engine terminal with the ballast work completed and some additional details added.

And the biggest scenery project- completion of the ballasting in the engine terminal at North Pierce- can be seen in the photo below.

There will be a separate post on the work that's been done here, but for now, its back to weathering some freight cars and finishing another GP9. And finishing up the last op session. And weathering and installing the chain link fence at Brewer Coat in Big Chimney. And...