What’s the point? Installing point motors and LEDs
I am making steady progress with my latest layout and one of the first things that has been built was the twin fiddle yards at the back. The idea is that this yard will be permanent and it gives me the choice to create new layouts in the future.
As the yard is at the back I have made sure all of the points are motorised and for this I have chosen to use the Rails of Sheffield surface motors, all of which work perfectly with the Peco SetTrack small points I have used in the yards. Using surface points should mean they are easier to maintain without having to crawl under everything. I would have opted to upgrade these points to electrofrog but I had almost the perfect amount required from Loughtbury so have recycled these.
The point motors are controlled using single throw double pole switches powered from my old Gaugemaster DC controller via a CDU. To keep things in order I installed the switches to a wooden board to provide me with a mimic of the layout. This worked brilliantly and even with my soldering skills and wiring, everything worked as expected.
Remembering which points are set
The next issue was knowing which points had been set where, and as the fiddle yard will be obscured by scenery it was going to be difficult to keep track of what was set, and after numerous crashes where I had forgotten what I had switched, I needed a solution, I needed to add LEDs to the board.
I discovered the Micro Miniatures Points Position Indicators which included a board and LEDs. These clever little things can be hooked up to the existing switches and provide an LED output showing which way the points are set, and the best thing is they remember your settings even when you turn the power off. This means you can come back later and not crash your HST into your wagons!!
The wiring does get a bit chaotic, and I am sure someone else can do a much tidier job, but I am amazed at the end results. I can now easily see route paths and where everything is heading at a fraction of the cost of adding DCC point modules. It was also a lot of fun to wire everything up.
Highly recommended for anyone looking to build a quick and easy mimic board. The wiring was fairly simple and the LEDs have done exactly what I needed. The only extra thing I needed was a power source for the indicator boards and I found an old 12v plug that can power both of them.
To improve the mimic board I purchased extra green LEDs and add them to the indicator boards, this means it does look a bit like a rats nest, but gives me a complete view of every point in the yard.
(please note I only recommend items because I genuinely recommend them, and do not receive anything back. I simply want to share the good stuff I have discovered to fellow modellers!)
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