Hah, it does add up, yes! It's best to just take it in small sections. Wire up a few pieces, test, then move on to the next. Once I started adding the first Digitrax components is when it really started getting fun 😂 Iain

Not too shabby I suppose. Most important update wasn't even in the video - photos.app.goo.gl/Ao6SpSKJGfJGRGfGA. Nothing to do with the state of my wiring, but maybe. Iain

I’d say that’s likely the best improvement as well.

Thanks for the suggestion, Mark. All the Digitrax equipment would connect to JMRI, which I used on my previous layout and worked well. That setup provides WiFi connectivity to mobile devices, alongside the use of regular throttles. I like the decoder programming and route features of JMRI, and people can then just use whatever smartphone they have to control trains if they prefer. So, kinda get the best of both worlds! I probably won't use much of the native Digitrax / LocoNet features over JMRI, it's mostly ease of use for the power distribution and blocks. Iain

Thanks, Anthony. It'll be the first time in 4-5 years back in England, so the weather and rail strikes have lined up nicely for us! Hope you have a good Christmas, too. All the best. More to come here in the new year. Iain

Thanks. Yep, nothing wrong with NCE. It'll probably power my OO/HO line on top of the lighting deck, and a smaller shelf layout for switching. For me, the availability, expandability, and documentation for Digitrax just gave it an edge over NCE on such a large layout like this. Glad everything's working great for you; the NCE gear certainly did on a couple of club layouts I was part of in Seattle. Iain

Total slacker, yes! I did make a lot of progress, but I'd hoped to have been further along with various life issues that got in the way. But, such is life. I'm making decent progress now. The AC5050 LEDs I'm likely going to use are these - www.ledsupply.com/led-strips/ac-power-5050-led-strips

The top of the bottom deck is a little over 15" from the bottom of the middle deck. Top of middle deck is then around 12" from bottom of the upper deck. It's a little compressed, but a compromise between heights of the upper and lower decks. The second video on the channel here about starting to build the benchwork goes into more details, as the decks also have different depths to maximize viewing angles when standing. And I agree - N scale lets you use so much space without it looking potentially unnatural in HO for town spacing, or trains going from one curve to the next. Thanks for following along. Iain

Kind of. I'll probably use AC5050 LED strips that can run up to 150ft on a single power adapter. The cheapy rope lights from Amazon, eBay, or similar are nowhere near bright enough or have long enough runs to cover that size of a layout. Iain

Do you have a link to those 150 foot led lights?