DCC Installed

When Bruce was over Sunday, we used alligator clips to attach an old MRC power pack I have and run a train around the track. Because I had already installed the insulators to create 5 separate Power Districts (PD) we could not run on the inner mainline nor onto the peninsula but it was neat seeing the train finally go around.

Finished trackwork on the peninsula, coal mine is left foreground.

I was a little hesitant to install the DCC right away because I wanted to build a support shelf under the layout - one under the Irwin Yard where I would initially place the DCC booster and one under E. McKeesport for later expansion. I spent some time yesterday wiring in a master ON/OFF switch to turn off the lights over the layout lights and on my workbench as well as the DCC components. It was remarkably easy thanks to some advice from Eric D. I began moving things around the under layout storage and realized one of my drawer units would make a perfect shelf and within an hour I had wired DCC to the layout and ran the train again, this time under DCC.

Master ON/OFF switch above white drawer unit. DCC sitting on gray drawer unit.

Obviously, I was pretty excited. Two more major items crossed off my too do list during my work break. I installed terminal strips around the rest of the layout and the next step will be to run the 16 gauge bus wire around all the terminal strips and install the UP5 and UR91 throttle connection panels so I can install the LocoNet.
Too much fun!