Took some shots of the latest progress as of tonight. The aerial view shows the pre-tunnel segment, that starts in the north-west of the photo and ends just beyond the switch in the right corner, after which a tunnel is planned (hence the name - pre-tunnel). Also visible is the Phidget 1018 in the centre, connected for testing to the middle switch, and used to report the position of the switch to the PC via an USB cable. The orange device is a sort of bent screwdriver, and will serve its purpose when the switches are permanently glued, and the motor has to be extracted for maintenance; that's because the Tillig 86112 has a screw that secures the rod used to move the switch blades - and the screw has to be inserted horizontally, a bit of a problem because the motor itself is going to stand in the cut-off holes in the big foam board. So when the screw will need to be loosen, the device will come in handy from underneath the foam and wooden board, making it all possible. The elevated track in the centre is just old PIKO track that is for now left standing there since it is not impeding construction.

Next 2 photos show a closer look at the wiring that's been done so far, namely: feeders connected to all 3 switches (since 2 pre-made links on the back of the switch make everything work but the frog, just 2 wires per switch are needed), one wire as feeder for each frog of every switch connected to the white wire on the Tillig 86112, feeders connected to each end of the outer curve (linking the 1st and 3rd switch) and the same for the inner curve (linking the 1st and 2nd switch), return wires (2 wires/switch) for the feedback indication linking the new electric casette with the vecinity of each switch.

What needs to be done: install the trimmed ramp going from the diverging track of the 2nd switch parallel to the 3rd switch, connect the green / gray wires of the 86112 to the installed feedback wires and install small devices to connect all the corresponding feeders together (i'm planning a trip tommorrow to a shop that sells these), solder feeders to the missing length of track (that will start on the trimmed ramp), and sometimes not too far i hope, a test run with the BR 66 on a finally-wired-PT-segment.

There are some lessons to be learned so far: it takes me a *lot* of time to do some simple wiring, on something that is basically one crossover and 2 lengths of track connecting to another switch; more insulating connectors are needed that initially anticipated (both rails corresponding to a frog must be isolated from the next segment), mounting isolating connectors will leave a (obviously!) gap that will interfere with the track that's been cut perfectly to size with the Xuron tool, and last but not least, it's much easier to solder the feeders to the underside of the rails after a couple of ties from the strip have been cut and temporarily removed (instead of trying to squeze the solder gun through 2 ties). But the main point remains my snail progress (ballasting is not even in sight yet !).