Today I was able to get the Swift Run tortoise installed! Two days ago I removed the tortoise but I had ordered an edge connector and needed to wait for that to arrive before I could installed the new tortoise.
The edge connector arrived yesterday, but I was in the middle of engine maintenance so the actual tortoise install waited until today.
I also took some time to look at the Furnace abandoned siding switch that reportedly was derailing engine 42 and found a broken closure rail. After soldering that back in place the switch now works and does not derail engine 42 but there is a vertical track alignment issue further into the siding that is also causing engine 42 to derail. This will require loosening the ballast and adjusting the rail height. That will have to wait until another day.
The pictures below show the tortoise removal and installation process.
(I could not hold the tortoise, soldering iron and pull the wires at the same time and there wasn't enough room for two sets of hands so I clamped the tortoise in place for the de-soldering process.)
(The defective tortoise has been removed. Upon opening it I found both sets of contacts had broken off the throw arm.)
(The new installation called for an additional terminal strip and an edge connector. The additional terminal strip was to make reattaching the layout wires easier and the edge connector was to make replacing this tortoise easier next time. But given all of this precaution there probably will never be a next time. Since I could not get enough clearance to insert screws into the terminal strip I used some heavy duty double sided tape. In this picture I am trying the get the backing off the tape. This was the most difficult part of the installation!)
(The new tortoise in place. You can just see the additional terminal strip to the left of the tortoise.)
(The proof. A red dwarf!)
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