J.T.

The Coffee Valley RR To this point, you have seen the construction of the table; the terrain evolve by the shaping of the foam; and the finer elements such as the addition of fascia and a nice paint job. Some of the mainline track has been laid along with the installation of some supporting bridges. Now, follow along as we complete the last bridge, complete the main line loop, and begin laying track in the center of the layout.

    As I started to lay the track, I quickly found that I needed a way to test my electrical components (i.e. track connections and turnout operations). I decided to go ahead and make a place which to run the feeder and switch wires. So, I roughly guessed how many terminal strips I would need to supply the track power, turnout operation, and miscellaneous accessories, etc. I found out later that I significantly under-guessed and what I hoped would not happen happened. The area under the control panel will not be neat and tidy liked I hoped. Instead, it will be a rat's nest when I am done. Oh well. When I build the real control panel, I will tap into these terminal strips and make the real connections. Until the, I can jerry-rig what I need to in order to test run the track. I have come up with a numbering scheme and a schematic that allows me to easily trace all of my wires from their source to the terminal strips. This will make my life much easier when I have to tap in with the control panel.

    I decided to clean everything off of the table and take some overall photos of the table.