New Switch Machines

So - this is pretty boring today but had to be done.  As I mentioned before, I reused switch machines from two old layouts for this now layout.  Most of them are 35 years old with much use.  They make a lot of noise, get stuck, and are old school.  They are SwitchMaster machines - a small motor that rotates a wire that turns the switch or turnout blades.  Worked well - but they do not easily provide a changeable voltage (+ to -) to the turnout frog which depends on the contact between the blades and the adjoining rail.  Over time these contacts corrode and get dirty and whoops - no contact.  Mistake to reuse them as I have said before.

The wires on the motor (shown in the blip) at the edges go to the NCE switch board to control the direction of the motor.   I can then control the turnouts from the NCE DCC radio hand controller.  The black wire goes to the turnout frog to power it.  The red and green wires next to the black one provide power to the black wire.  So on the motor, you see a R and G letter. That means that when the arm is to the right, the green wire is connected to the black one.  Swing the other way and the red wire is connected to the black one.  Very slick.  Makes under layout easier to connect them to the DCC power bus.  I will explain the wood blocks later when I show the installation in a few days.

The extra is the next 6 motors all wired up and ready for their mounting blocks.  Doing 6 at a time makes it go faster, but does not make me want to blow my brains out.   I promised myself no more structures until I get after the motor replacement.  So 6 at a time.  7 done so far so only 45 more although some may be OK to stay a while longer.