February was a relatively quiet month in terms of progress on the layout, but exciting and busy nevertheless. Due to scheduling and other things, we didn't have many Monday night work sessions but I still tried to keep progress going on other nights of the week. I also went to North Carolina with friends for an operations weekend. More on that later.

So, here's some of what happened in February:

Helix panel completion

First up was the substantial completion of the helix sub-panel that was created. If you recall, the helix has 24 detection blocks, which requires a lot of electronics (way more than I was planning initially) - it was clear that a sub-panel was the right choice.

As usual, I tried to keep the wiring neat and tidy. I rearranged the components a few times to try to keep that up. The result is mostly clean, but there are still things that bother me. I decided it was "good enough" for now as I can easily trace things if (when) required.

There's one type of cable I dislike most: the ribbon cable. They serve a very necessary purpose in model railroading electronics, but they are so hard to cleanly manage and fasten to a board. Romex staples won't work because the nails are far too long for 1/2" plywood. I didn't think circular clamps were the right answer either. So I decided to design a little 3D printed ribbon cable clamp. It took about 30 mins of design time, a few minor tweaks via iterations and voila! I plan on posting the files soon for the community to print on their own.

Helix sub-panel

Helix progress

Though we didn't have many Monday night work sessions in February, Dave has been making steady progress on the helix. As of this writing, we only have 1 turn left to get the staging and lower levels connected. Once that's complete, I can continue running the mainline down the left side of the layout to connect to the helix.

Since we are doing one continuous helix instead of two separate, we will have to get creative by adding some curved turnouts for entry and exit to the outer track. That in itself is not a big deal, but the servos will be a bit of a puzzle.

Hopefully after this coming week's session, we will be very close, if not done connecting the two.

Mainline + return loop trackage

As Dave has continued the helix work, I've again been working on various projects, mostly mainline and return trackage roadbed and track-laying. As of this post, 2 of the 3 walls have their return trackage loop laid, just awaiting feeders.

I also managed to finish the lower level wye and got the last turnout installed for that. Some genius (me 🙄) decided it would be a good idea to add an extra 2x4" cleat on the wall, which made surgery required on the framing below to drill holes for the servo control rod and the frog-wire.

As a "bonus," I've also been prepping to lay the tracks for Janesville yard. Need to work through a few challenges first, but I hope that will begin soon.

Getting more organized

In a continual effort to get the train room more organized, I've been slowly chipping away at it. I want the train room to have a comfortable feeling and not feel like a giant mess, once operations start. To that end, I bought a few drawer units from IKEA which I've been very happy with. Links to those are below. I'm still figuring out how I want to organize the things in those, but making steady progress.

A few months ago, I also found the Gridfinity system for 3D printed organizers. I've been printing a lot of the base units and containers to hold the items in the "Alex" unit next to my modeling desk.

It's a never-ending process, but really hoping to continue making progress so everything has a home.

If you're interested in the IKEA units I have, here they are:

• ALEX Drawer unit on casters
• STORKLINTA 3-drawer dresser

Layout room organization

NC Trip

The last hightight for the month was not layout-related, but still train related. A few friends and I that have met through the aModelersLife Podcast and I made a trip to the greater Charlotte, NC area for an operating weekend. It was an action-packed long-weekend and I had a ton of fun operating on some tremendous layouts and in the great company of railroad friends.

Here's the highlight list of our activities:

• North Carolina Transportation Museum
• Marcus' Charleston, Roanoke & Eastern Railway N-scale Layout (see my highlights post)
• Scott's NS N-scale Layout (see my highlights post])
• Seth's HO Scale NYC Piney Fork Branch (see my highlights post])
• Larry's HO Scale Long Island Layout (no pictures being shared for this layout)
• A WIP tour of Jeff's massive HO Scale Donner Pass Layout

I was also able to see my aunt and uncle that live in the area and spend a night with them, which I always enjoy.

It was a great trip and I really hope we can make it a regular event -- either in the same area, or other parts of the US. It just goes to show how wonderful this hobby of model railroading is such a great community to be a part of.

Although the progress on the layout isn't exactly what I was hoping for, it was still progress nonetheless. And the NC operating weekend was just what I needed to keep my excitement for the hobby going. Since this post is a few days into March, I can say that the progress in March is already making up for a slower February. Stay tuned for more!