Failure!

Thought it would be sensible to wire up the motor on its own to check that it would move from right to left when connected to the 12 volt supply. In the second picture you can perhaps see the rod sticking up which will eventually engage with the tiny hole in the points and thus switch them from left to right.

Under the board

On top

8 AA batteries = 12Volts

Le switch



First inauspicious omen was that the left  and right hand wires sparked when connected to the switch WHEN IT WAS IN THE OFF POSITION - that can't be right.

Anyway, moved the switch to the left and the rod moved. SUCCESS - THANK YOU GOD, OH JOY OF JOYS etc etc. Moved the switched to the right, expecting the rod to move back the way, AND nothing happened.

Then a smell of burning - looked under the board and the rubber shield round one of the motor's coils was melting and smoke rising - and this all from AA batteries and the switch in the OFF position!

Blew on the motor, the smoke ceased and I retired to corner to mope.

Next step: it seems that one can wire in a Capacitor Discharge Unit to each motor to stop this burning - but I think the switch was at fault, it shouldn't have shown any sign of electrical life when in the off position.

The switch was also horribly fiddly to operate.

So will buy a new points motor, a Capacitor thingie and a larger toggle switch.

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Not even music can assuage my irritation