The Nest

 OK, so stopped by today to try to improve rat's nest a little with zip ties.  Maybe there's an improvement; maybe not much.  

The green Southern RS1/2 loco was stalled entering the tunnel.  Cleaned wheels on paper towel with alcohol but didn't do too much.  Swapped with little Southern SW. . .  switcher.  No problem up until leaving.

Making a Rat's Nest

 As the time nears for the installation of the 3rd Phase of the Knowledge Park Shortline Railroad, we hope, some adjustments needed to be made.  The control box on the side of Phase 2 was going to prevent Phase 3 from fitting in the display case.

With some effort, rewiring, and sliding of the first two Phases, maybe Phase 3 will fit.

A template of Phase 3 can be seen in the photo, above, with Phase 2 and the template slid to the near side of the display case.  Due to the angle of White Street, the near right corner (not seen in photo) was just inside the far side of the display case!  Easier to rewire than rebuild the case -- and much less expensive with "free" labor.  Note, also, the Rock Hill Station sign and Station "blueprint" have been mounted on wall -- more to come.

Wiring before rewiring from UNDER the display case.

Wiring after rewiring UNDER the display case.  Sure do hope the former high school robotics team members do NOT see this rat's nest of wiring -- they were instructed to ensure the wiring on the robot was run neatly.  Maybe tomorrow a few zip ties will help this.

With all this rewiring, it was amazing that almost everything worked.  And, it might have worked immediately if #9 wire had been placed in the #9 position the first time!  Like this:

In the meantime, the Railroad's Conductor was opening up the far end of the layout for easier view of downtown and doing some landscape decorations.

Note blue wall above, but no blue wall in photo below.  Just like the far end, adjusting some of the backdrop that worked in a garage has opened the layout to view from more angles.

And, as of this am, all three locos were hauling freight: