James River Branch: Control Panels

Control Panel

The James River Branch control panel is quite small and utterly simple. It's recessed into the side fascia section near the rear corner of the layout on the "rural" side (left side, as viewed from the front).

The first control is the "master power" switch. This can be used as a "kill" switch to stop the train in case of a problem, or to just make sure absolutely everything is turned off. The second switch controls train speed (slow or medium), and the third is train direction. The second row of switches control lighting and effects throughout the layout. A smaller auxiliary panel in the mirror-image location under Naughtright controls the Type "G" Signal and the Canal Street Crossing Flasher.

There's a bit of historical significance to the switches themselves: they were all left over from the lighting and animation control panel on my White River and Northern N scale layout.

The control panel on the rural side of the layout controls the train.

The access panel provides access to the control panel wiring.