An idea for buss wiring.

[Anonymous]

I've been reading alot about people having problems with frost heave damaging wiring and then there is aways the problem of corrosion with wireling buried in the ballast or the ground. If you do have a problem with it, or want to change or add something, you mess up your ballast to get to the wire.

I have noticed that several layouts I've come across have telegraph or power poles that run alongside the track.

Why not run the buss wires on the poles? Tap in, and run the feeders down the pole ,and across to the track. For lighting, just hang your lights on the power poles. That would put all but very short sections of your wire out in the open where you can get to it to work on it easily. It would keep it from being submerged when it rains.

What's more prototypical than real wires on power poles? Run the wires back to the power station where the train drops off the coal!

[John Busby]

Hi capt _turk
In a word NO
Because the family pet or next doors cat will get tangled
in it closing the line for however long it takes to sort out the wiring and re join it all.
It takes days on the full size to sort it out I know I have had to do it on major breaks for the real railways so this would mean weeks in the garden.
Full size railways have radios and pilot keys to deal with this our railways need power to run.
My solution to this problem was to bury 2" PVC pipes conected to pits made from 6" PVC pipe and push on end caps and run the wiring through the pipes
and make all joints in the pits where they can be got at.
the pipe is buried beside the track.
Not underneath it where a lot of books sugest the wiring should go
regards John

[Tom The Brat]

I think the wired would be asking to get caught by a stray foot and ripped up. Likely, my stray foot[V]

[markperr]

It seems like a good idea in theory but for most of us, or I should say for me, the wire would be horribly out of scale. I use #12 malibu outdoor wiring for my primary feeder. In 1:1 scale, that would make the wires almost 8" in diameter. Now That would be one BIG wire.

Mark

[Anonymous]

lol..How about an electric fence wire along with the regular wires, for the cats and critters? They get into it once or twice and you couldn't get one even near the railroad again! lol It would make clutz human a little more careful too![(-D]
As far as trouble shooting breaks in the line, that's one reason I suggested street lights on the poles. Wired in parrallel with the buss, you would have an instant indicator of a break in the line, and where it was. No light, no power.

[Anonymous]

I have and still am against buss wiring it is a silly idea. i don't do it and i don't understand why anyone would.


Rgds ian

[Anonymous]

I don't use a buss wire either , and have had no problems. Of course I only have about 60' of track.
My use of a "buss" wire would be more to power switches, and lights from a seperate power source.
I tend to run more the "haywire" type railroad. Put it in temporary, and then only change it if it proves not to work or be reliable. No rivet counting here! I ain't got no stinking rivets![(-D][(-D]
I just like to play with trains![:)]