This Ever Happen To You..??

[Steamtrains]

Lately I've been in a kind of a RR'ing funk....But a couple of weeks back, I got off my duff and decided I needed to upgrade some of the electrical work I'd done originally when building the layout. In the rush to get trains running I didn't follow "standard practices" for good electrical performance...Trains were slowing down where they shouldn't (I didn't notice this 'till my brother asked if there was a grade in a certain section where trains were slowing down....)
And I had done a real "butcher" job in bridging the gap where a lift out section is located...So I spent all last weekend banging my head under the layout, dropping leads to the main buss, and finally bridging the gap at the lift out with something a little more "professional".

Here's how I had bridged the gap.....These are some old "Molex" (??) connectors salvaged from my previous layout....


This is the new "me"....


And this is the connector I had used to feed power to the lift-out section...


Now comes the good part....I had often thought that when that lift-out section is scenicked, I wasn't going to be able to reach under the scenery to disconnect that connector....So how to do it....??? I thought & thought, thinking of many possible solutions to "automatically" feed power when the lift-out was put in its place. From "powered" bolt heads, to relay switches, to bayonet plugs....to THIS...!!!!



It dawned on me that the latches that hold the lift-out in place were metal...! And that the connection was good enough to conduct the juice....So I quickly ran to the layout...got my wire cutters and did the old connector in....Wired up the latches...and PERFECT...works like a dream...!!!

Funny how the mind works...It kind'a leads you down a rocky path 'till it says.."Hey dummy...remember this..??"