Ennitoun  Mark 2 – Finalised

28th July 2020 10 days ago the  hard decision to demolish the old layout to allow for the station/shed baseboards (1& 2) to be refurbished, levelled and old wiring removed.   Over the past year the operation of the layout was compromised by board deterioration.  I knew at the time I would not be going back to a complex station layout.  As the conversion to DCC progressed too many points in one area caused problems with the smaller wheel based locos, i.e. those of 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 configuration.  The initial mock up shown left was just that – it proved just as problematic as the original configuration.

Whilst the image taken on the 21st July shows some simplification to the track it was not sufficient. Testing was undertaken with small tank engine, Flying Scotsman, City of Glasgow and City of Manchester proved that the smallest & largest locos could get round the system with no problem and that power was getting to all the routes.   Unfortunately the design still had problems which needed resolving.  A lot track required replacing as did the fish-plates (theses joined tracks together)

All the isolating tracks (those with the switches at the side of them) had to be replaced with normal track.  Isolation tracks are not needed on DCC system.  They are needed on DC (anolog) systems to isolate engines on same track.  With DCC all tracks are live the DCC chip acts on the command from the controlling pad (CAB)

Current state of play images as at 23:11 28th July 2020.

Ennitoun station now has 6 platforms much simplified point/turnout system.  All platforms can be reached from the goods yards and fiddle yard.  Extensive testing over the past 4 days has lead to further refinement to the layout.  With the track now finalised Ennitoun is back in operation and I have had a good 4 hours running session on it tonight and am pleased to say no problems (apart from the operator that is).

Next challenge starting on Thursday will be the actual “bridging the gap” .  Where a loop will be taken from the fiddle yard to the station to provide a tail chaser and allow a train to  run and not interfere in other engine movements.   Extra track, points etc will be collected on Wednesday 29th July along with new locomotives.

This week saw  2 locomotives joining the DCC system, A1 60163 Tornado and  6244 King George VI