More work done - even though I hadn't realised that I needed to!

One of the problems when one can only work on the model at sometimes lengthy intervals is that you forget what you have done and what you need to do! Like more point motors.

In my diary note of 3rd January I mentioned that I had already laid the points at one end of the hidden sidings at some time during the preceding year. What I had competely forgotten was that was all I had done to them.

So, I had to install their point motors - a reasonably fiddly task, not made any easier by a small problem with a Peco mounting plate. In this particular case, the point motor was surface mounted using the Peco mounting plate and operating arm. The problem was it would only work one way.

Changing point motors made no difference, lightly greasing the sliding arm didn't help. The problem, wasn't the point motor or the point - when holding the point motor in position over the point it worked perfectly. Unfortunately, it's not really pracatical to run trains with a point motor on the track!

In a flash of inspiration I studied the Peco plate and noticed that the operating arm had a locking spring. Of course the point has one as well and it seemed that in this particular instance the two presented too much of challenge for the point motor.

It was the work of moments to unclip the spring retaining plate and remove the spring from the mounting. And, hey presto, everything worked perfectly!

The only remaining problem after this was that I seemed to have three point motors left over. After checking everything very carefully I established that the outermost goods yard point and the crossover at the right hand end of the station didn't have point motors! Yet again something I had forgotten in the intervening year!

But I got there in the end. All I need to do is connect all those point motor wires to the control panel and the layout will be fully functional. At last!