SD100

Yea, I was confused as to what the purpose of that Jumper was. Alternately, a small piece of Scotch Tape does the job for an insulator. SD

Why do you need the physical isolation when the switches have it in them already?

Just throw your sleeping bag under your layout and no one will be the wiser...

I'm going to guess that the PWM issues with the Lego Motor was a Thermistor problem. I'm going to guess that the problems with LEGO Motors and PWM came down to a problem with the Thermistor... It seems to be an incredibly finicky component. Also when it comes to power drops, we generally need more where we DON'T have FX track than when we do. A section of FX even distant from the power feeds seems to relay power better than standard track. We currently run 2 drops on about 70 feet of track, and that seems to work fine. SD

Looks good! FWIW, I have DaMangos instructions if anyone needs them. SD

I would say buy garbage ones on bricklink and rewire them. But the FX ones are going to be a better option if you've got some patience. And it *shouldn't* be too much longer, as we've actually seen these in existence. SD

Toastie, I'd like to give you credit that the white train in one of those images is your ICE train with a few quick mods, one of these shows I have to get a good video of it, it's about 9 feet long and AWESOME. I think Diego has a great idea, especially how he breaks the product down so you only have to buy what parts you want, but for a train controller I don't really see it as feasible. I'm still getting 9v controllers for $15 US here, and there seem to be plenty available. Also, Narissis and I got to mess with FX Bricks controller a couple weekends ago and I am sold on that. If I wanted an alternative, both our LUG and a neighboring LUG have GBC guys who've made controllers out of PC power supplies for a lot less. I've gotta look at BPB's vids tho. SD

Lots of pennies... lol. I'm going to get some steel bar stock at some point and cut it to fit.

That's all we run at shows, with plenty of FX Bricks track to back it up.

I'm not sure this bridge will ever be done, but so far I've got 3 years in. It's finally at the stage where it is usable at shows, and I had to test it's endurance to being opened and closed all day. Eventually it will be motorized, but for the time being it's manual control. These are a couple pics of the first time I've been able to pull it out of the basement, finagle fitting it in my car, and using it for a whole show day. SD

Heck yea, I'll be the guy in the BuffaLUG shirt with all the hair, come on up and say hi! SD

I cut the tabs off with an exacto knife, the thermistor is a small disc next to the actual motor. I pull it out with tweezers and replace with a square of copper tape. Afterwards I secure the cover with clear tape in case of derailments. I'm supposed to be showing some people the process up at Bricks in the 6 this weekend, I'll take some pictures then. SD

Toastie is 100% right about your problem being the thermistor. My LUG thought all our motors were toast (see what I did there) but after thermistor surgery they're all back in service and going like mad, all day long at shows. Also, they take 12V with absolutely no issues, which is why FX Bricks has shown that as an option on their theoretical controllers. SD

I had to run 4 axles to get reliable power pickup... And performance rapidly degraded when trying to run for more than an hour or two due to grime build up. We found that running them at a show would mean multiple cleanings over the course of a day... SD

Nice. I've been trying to get the G&W scheme to look good in 6 wide, I'm looking forward to seeing your final product here. SD