Layout Update - June 2021: Music Wire Vs. Blowtorch, Crossing Finished, Athearn Genesis SD60M...

Here's what we've been up to this past month on the layout: Mount Norquay road grade crossing protection complete. 16 LEDs on this crossing powered by Logic Rail Technologies Grade Crossing Pro/2 and a Grade Crossing Pro/2 Expander. The gate arms are driven by a single tortoise motor attached to two circuitron bell crank mechanisms. The speaker for the bell is from a Samsung Galaxy S20. Took a very long time to get the bell cranks working with my overly complicated lit gate arms. Even the tiny magnet wire puts up enough resistance to overcome the bell cranks abilities. After replacing the throw wires in both pedestals with music wire, I was able to get it to a spot where I'm happy with it. I had to add one more SPDT on-on switch to disable whichever photocell is not needed on the west end of the crossing due to the tracks going from double to single. With two far sensors on the west side, the crossing circuit thinks there's a train on each track if the sensor that is not lined for the turnout isn't disabled. Crossing Circuit Boards: https://www.logicrailtech.com Banff Station progress, one step forward two steps back. I was about to glue the whole first floor together when I noticed the front door on the town side wasn't centered with the operators station on the track side. I didn't pay close enough attention to which way I overlapped the styrene walls to glue them and it ended up adding up to being almost a cm off. So I took the townside wall apart and redid it with some pieces not surviving the renovation. It's all good now and the whole first floor is together. Next up will be working on the 2nd floor which is the station operators living quarters. Athearn Genesis SD60M DCC install. No fooling you guys, about a dozen of you knew right away what I was working on my bench last month. I had it done and then a very unlucky slip of my thumb broke the lightboard in half when I was almost ready to put the shell back on. (Be extremely careful around the rear end of the lightboard on these!) I ordered a new lightboard from Athearn, replaced that and then reinstalled the ESU Loksound V5 decoder with the Athearn dual sugar cube speaker. The diesel mechanic over at the Caramat & Kinghorn sub layout put the full throttle sound file in it for me (thanks Justin). After that ordeal, it was put into revenue service straight away. It is missing a bearing cap which Athearn has told me they will be sending replacements. Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! Thanks for watching.