Near the end of September I moved legs out of view of the lower level under Wind River Canyon / Thermopolis by resetting them back in from the edge of the layout. Here's how the east end of Vocation looked before I moved the leg (the one near the wall):

It looks like this after moving the leg. I added new leg for the lower level and recessed the upper leg back behind where the lower level backdrop will be.

I did the same thing on the other side of the furnace at Alkali Creek. Here's how it looks now:

Then it was back to wiring train order signals. I had almost all the lines run by early October. Here are the bundles under Greybull:

And here they are under Douglas. All in all I ran about a quarter of a mile of wire.

I wired in each set of signals on the layout as I went.

On October 3rd I posted the monthly layout update video:

On the 4th of October I began fabricating the dispatcher's panel. I used the graphic as the template, center-punching each hole and then drilling it in several steps up to final size. Here the pilot holes have been drilled.

Here's the Masonite backing sheet after all the holes have been opened to full size. You can see that some cleanup of the holes is needed where the Masonite "erupted" around the holes. Cleanup was easily done using a deburring tool.

In order to keep from tearing up the panel face I only drilled the initial pilot holes in it. After opening up all the holes in the sheet metal and Masonite I laid the graphic over the sheet metal and used an Exacto knife to cut the holes to size.

Then I began populating the panel with the switches and LEDs. Here the first two rows of switches are installed.

Once all the switches were installed I moved the panel into the dispatcher's office and mounted it with a couple of screws at the top corners. The panel is level; it looks crooked because the two stair walls are not exactly even, meaning the panel is very slightly canted on the vertical axis relative to the stairs.

In order to power the panel I needed a place to plug in a wall wart. I added an outlet behind the panel on the stair wall for this purpose.

Then it was time to start wiring the panel. I had to crawl into that very confined space behind the panel and sit on a step stool to do the work. I spent a total of probably ten hours back there over about a week. Here the first set of signals is wired in and I'm testing that it actually works before proceeding on with the rest.

Here's the back of the panel with the top two rows of switches wired, on October 11th.

Here's how the front of the panel looked at that point.

I finished the wiring on the 12th and 13th. Here's the back of the panel with all the barrier strips installed and the lines coming from the layout wired to them (those lines come in from the left). Bottom row switches and LEDs weren't wired in yet.

Here's the front of the panel after all wiring is complete.

With the panel installation basically complete, I spent the next week getting ready for the upcoming Operating Session. That was held on October 21st.

Here's Dave from Basin working at the new Dispatcher's desk.

Here a passenger train is getting a consist change in Casper. Bill, in the foreground, is Casper yardmaster.

Dave had to leave before the session was over, so Kevin stepped in and relieved him as dispatcher.

Here's an unobstructed view of the dispatcher's desk. That banker's lamp is pretty small until it was placed in the very confined dispatcher's office. Then it got very large! It has since been replaced by an even smaller lamp.

One late addition to the system was designation of the switch taking the Cody branch off the line to East Staging "Frannie." A new set of signals will be installed for that. Calling that turnout Frannie confused the heck out the dispatcher - that junction real life comes off the west end of the Casper division, so on the layout that would lead to West staging.