The power for the layout is located in a pull out drawer. In the drawer is the 10 amp power supply, fuse block, voltage and current meters, Digitrax Zephyr command station, a track booster and an accessory booster.
In the previous configuration the power supply was set for 17.5 volts and powered both boosters and the Zephyr. The boosters were 5 amp NCE PB105 units with built in voltage regulators. The Zephyr also has a built in regulator, thus the need for 17.5 volts.
The accessory booster has just been replaced with a Team Digital DCCBoost unit. It does not have a built in regulator so the power supply voltage was reduced to 13.6 volts. The Zephyr is now powered by its own 13.5 VDC power supply. The NCE PB105 is powered by the internal transformer of the power supply.
There are 10 Team Digital DCCBreak circuit breakers which are located on two different panels.

I spend the afternoon wiring the two program tracks. They are side by side and are used for “Team” tracks when not programming. The reason there are two tracks for programming is I forgot to insulate one of them. So it was just easier this way. Amazing how long certain things take. The three position switch for the program track had already been installed. It controls what the program track is electrically connected too. Center position is off - no power to the track. Right position connects the track to the main power and left position connects it to the programmer.

There is a little aluminum plate with “PROG” and “MAIN” to indicate which position to move the switch. Since the switch is somewhat hidden under the facia I put a three leaded bi-color LED between PROG and MAIN . Red indicates program track is connected to the programmer and green indicates it is connected to the main.

I have finished the wiring for the hidden yard reverse loop. This includes the automatic control of the reverse loop turnout and the electrical polarity of the reverse loop track. A DBD22 was used to detect two short sections of track next to the turnout. Based on which section is occupied the DBD22 controls a Servette which in turn drives a servo to correctly move the turnout. The relay on the Servette is used to reverse the polarity of the track.

With this done I run the first train (two locos and two cleaning cars) down through the hidden yard around the reverse loop and back out on the main.

One of the things I have spend a lot of time trying to decide on is turnout control. I first planed on the Atlas code 83 solenoid machines. There are very easy to install anywhere on the layout (much easier than any under track solution). They provide easy manual control as well as remote control. Also I think there are small enough that they do not detract from the visual aspect of the layout.  I had designed a scheme so that manual movement of the turnout could be reported to JMRI. I want to have the capability of automatic control. Unfortunately, the small Atlas machines do not put enough force on the turnout points for consistent reliable operation.

I do not like the tortoise solution for a couple of reasons: their size makes locating them under a table like mine very difficult is some cases and the relativity large hole required under the turnout. It is hard to install the tortoise after the turnout is in place. "I know install the tortoise before the turnout!" Good idea if you planned it that way up front. The tortoise does have some nice features that are hard to achieve with other solutions.

At this point I am planing on using small servos. They are small and inexpensive. They are not convenient switching power to the frog (which I do in some cases). I have done various experiments on how best to mount the servo, install linkage to the points and switch frog power. At this point I plan on using the Motrak Models mounting bracket. To switch frog power I plan on putting a microswitch on the side of the servo with glue or double sided tape.

The main power section has been completed enough that it powers all the track. All the components are located in a pull out drawer which provides easy access. A volt meter and accessory booster still need to be wired. It is designed so that a Digitrax or NCE command station can be easily interchanged.

When first testing there was a booster in the drawer for the east side power and a west side booster. Both were 5 amps. I began to realize that that this layout only requires one booster. I originally thought that it would cause less problems not to have the DCC power wiring going from the east side power section over the mechanical room door to the west side. Just the DC power via 12 ga zip type cable and rail sync signal via flat phone cable. Hence the second booster. I have only run a couple of trains at once but there does not seem to be a problem with just one booster providing DCC power to the west side via the zip type cable.

The east and west side still have their respective circuit breakers.

Another mile stone has been reached today. All the basic main line wiring has been completed. This included the block detectors. There are a couple of jumpers and a temporary DCC cable used to provide power from the west to east section. Only one booster was used. This was enough so that a train could be run.

When power was first applied there were no shorts. Some track feeders had to be added before a train could complete a loop but that was it. I was surprised that with the long DCC cable (12 gauge zip wire) that there was no problem with the integrity of the DCC signal. The train ran OK and a SMD82 switch machine drive was temporarily hooked up and it worked OK.

Today was a mile stone. I completed the wiring for the main line in the west section. This includes wiring for the block detectors and circuit breakers. I ran an engine for the first time in this section. The track was a little dirty and needs cleaning but I was able to test most of the block wiring.

I decided to design my own circuit breaker. At this time there are some good commercial circuit breakers available. However, none of them had all the features I wanted. Low cost, remote on/off control and off at power on to name a few. Low cost was important because I want to use a lot of them. In some places like yards and sidings I want to be able to turn off power and the short circuit protection is not the main requirement. If there are a number of sound locos that are not being used, it is nice to be able to turn off the sound.

Designing the breaker was not as easy as I though. There is a trade off of being able to turn off power fast enough when a short occurs to keep the booster from shutting down and not turning off power when there are a number of sound locos on the track. Sound locos and passenger cars with lighting tend to have large capacitors. Capacitors look like a short circuit when power is first turned on.

Before actually starting to wire the blocks, I thought I would use a dual detector at the junction of two block. Upon starting the wiring process, I realized that for this size layout and shape that grouping a number of block detectors in several select areas would work better. That is, it would be easier to wire and more accessible.

When the track was laid most of the blocks were determined with the idea of being able to automatically run a few track by computer. No knowing exactly what works best for automation there was a lot of guess work in determining the blocks. If more blocks are required as some later date there should no problem in adding them.