ThomasI

So, since I'm having the same problem again this year and no solution in sight, I'm about to dismantle everything and find another hobby. I've spent four summers in a row repairing the switches in the station entrance because they were damaged by the servo twitching when the layout was powered up. I've tried everything: power and data supply to the decoders via track from the command station. Only data supply via track and external power supply from the transformer. All voltages from 12V to 18V from the said transformer. First turn on the data supply, then the power supply. Vice versa. Turn on the decoders one by one. No matter what I do, after a long break, the servos in the station entrance (and only those!) run amok, destroying the switches and becoming uncontrollable. Since I don't want to be stuck for another year, without a solution to this problem, I'll resort to demolition and find another hobby. This is just too frustrating and depressing and demotivating. 😭😭😭

But you are also well on your way to becoming Pontifex Maximus. 😎👍

Hi Mark! That's hand-built. Largest radius point commercially available in H0 is 2200mm from Tillig. Best Regards Thomas

I replaced a switch with a larger switch with a larger branch radius (6110 instead of 2200mm) to allow for a more pleasing track layout.

I invested some time in creating and planting catenary poles.

To prevent the train from falling several feet into the depths in the event of a derailment like last year, I have started to build protective walls in the exposed areas.

You get better with time. In the beginning, I made mistakes, too, working with cheap speaker cables, for example. They crumbled. I had to rework and replace a lot of them. Today, I only use high-quality cables from industrial (automotive) and landscaping suppliers. In fact, this is one of the few areas where, in my opinion, the choice of material is more important than one's own skills.

I still think this is truly remarkable for an outdoor station. The overall impression is spot on, right down to the smallest detail, and as I said: I know plenty of indoor layouts that can't compete with this! High praise for you.

More Pics.

So, thanks to the warm weather, work on the cutoff and the new bridges is progressing quickly.

Well, that's really great! It even puts many train stations on large indoor layouts to shame.

And some more progress.

First days of spring and I made some progress with the cutoff.

This is a very fascinating topic. When you consider how electrified passenger transport in the USA once was. It's sad... ...but of course great for model making. Just like your pictures.

So, despite the fall, I've made a little more progress with the new cutoff. Since my Korean KTX wants a minimum radius of 730mm, I had to build a bypass around the only curve <730mm. The removable part of the bridge is held in position by the four specially made catenary poles.