Motivation

Sometimes, we just need a little motivation to work through the problems we have. Last spring, I added some building lights, first in the Irwin Tower, which is at the entrance to the train room, then the barn in the corner between Irwin Yard and Uniontown. I have always felt building lights, like weathering, adds realism to our little model worlds. I ran the interior lighting bus to the end of Uniontown and lit up GGS Cabinets, named for my dad, George G. Several weeks later, I spent some time crawling under the layout and extending the bus to the other end of the layout which is Niagara Street. I added lights to the building with Clancy’s Tavern, a Dayton (Riverside actually) favorite of ours (we ate dinner there tonight as a matter of fact). Turned it on and...
Short.
I use a separate, older DC power pack, for the lights and it has an overload indicator on the top. Damn thing was blinking like a Christmas tree. I unplugged the new building, thinking maybe I crossed the wires to the LEDs (should not be a problem), and still had a short. Well, it was definitely in the bus but since I used 2 color wires and kept them carefully lined up on the terminal strips, I was just frustrated and gave up.
For a long time.
I kept thinking I just needed to disconnect one terminal strip from the next until I found the problem...somewhere a negative wire was touching the positive side of the terminal strip. Or, a bad terminal strip. But I did not feel like tracing the problem under the layout.
Enter the Dayton Train Show and reconnecting with Bruce. Just the motivation I needed. Tonight, I disconnected a known working terminal strip at GGS Cabinets and the lights are shining bright and clear. I just have to trace the OTHER half of the layout, two or maybe three terminal strips and I can fix the problem.
Guess what I will be doing tomorrow, on a cold, winters Saturday?