There were seven blocks on Victoria Street, each block was wired to a DPDT switch with a centre off position, which allowed two controllers to control two trams at one time, since the adaption to DCC, all switches have been thrown to one side; therefore one controller, the powercab.
The infrastructure to support this arrangement resembled a rats nests of wiring and terminal strips, which when I took Victoria Street on the road or removed a module for some work, made it feel like I was reinstating a telephone exchange after a natural disaster.
So therefore, I have now bitten the bullet, and now in the process installing a DCC bus with plugs at either side of the modules for a more flexible and quicker setup and pull down arrangement. The bus wire is sourced from 2.5mm* domestic household TPI, (if it can handle 16A at 240V AC, it will handle DCC!)
Out with the old, the block panel and its umbilical cord.
However DC has not completely been removed from the equation, a DPDT switch has been installed including a DIN socket so the 'Cashless and Broke' inertia DC controller can control the layout if I wish to run one tram (at a time) that has not been chipped yet (a new purchase).
A new addition on the NCE PCP.
The Railway Station module is the first module getting all the attention, and now it is the master module, in the process the pub received some more detail to its lighting, inside and out.
Rocking out at the Railway Hotel with its neon sign and disco lights.
At the moment Victoria Street is currently a diorama.
The next modules to get the 'treatment' will be the Racecourse and the Fiddle yard, so I can still run some trams while The Bend and The Gates undergo a retro fit of lighting and bus wire.
From under the wires and with the smell of hot solder.
Glenn
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