Playing Electrician

My order of electronics came in from DigiKey, so naturally it was time to play with the electricals. I purchased the required parts to build a simple linear power supply for the layout's control panel, indicator lights and accessories (turn out motors, etc.), as well as the actual switches and indicator lights that will make up the components of the control panel itself.

I spent a couple of hours tonight building and testing the simple linear power supply -- it supplies +5VDC, -5VDC, 10VDC and 16VAC, all of which will be used in various capacities for the control panel and layout. The picture is of the first successful test of the power supply, as well as testing the dual-color LEDs for the control panel (you can see one is green and the other red, both sharing a common 0V. The black things around the terminals of the transformer, if you are wondering, are simply yet-to-be-shrunken heat shrink tubing -- I always think heatshrink tubing makes a project have a nicer finish.