Some will say this is no good, rail joiners are unreliable, but I built my previous layout this same way and had no issues. EVERY joiner had feeder wires - that meant each turnout has THREE sets, one on each leg. I DID solder the joiners to the track for curves - two pieces of felxtrack, but no other joiners were sodlered to the rails. I had no issues with power loss or dead sections, even after painting the track. It's pretty effective because you can sit at the table for an hour or so and solder up a couple dozen and keep a stock on hand for when you lay track.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Okay, gotcha.
For maximum effectiveness, solder a pair of feeders to the joiners between every two pieces of track. That is not the same as soldering all joiners as some advocate. What I mean is this:
========X=================== =================X======
The rails are obvious, and the X is a feeder wire soldered to each joiner. The gap is a real gap or an insulated (plastic) joiner or piece of styrene glued into place and shaped to look like the rail profile.
Note that you should solder all sections of track that will form a curve as a general rule, and you do that when they are laid tangent and flat and level. You form the curve once the solder is done properly.
I'm sorry, I need to be more clear on my questions. What I mean is, how far apart should the bus wires be placed on the same track line? In other words, soldering wires to each rail, than how far down the same track you are working with should i solder the next set of wires?
I am unsure of your meaning when you use the term "packet". If you really mean how closely located can the two bus wires be as they are placed along the main axis of the benchwork, the answer is that they can be pretty much as close at you like, provided your total length doesn't exceed the ability of the power source to maintain the requisite minimum signal strength and voltage. I don't know much about it, but I have read that the signals can counter each other after a certain length, say 40 feet or more, unless the two wires are wound about each other. In my case, I only have a total of 43' split by a T stem; The stem comes directly from the controller, and the bus goes in two directions at the split for about 20' in either direction. That setup works just fine.
Here is what the NMRA has to say about the subject:
http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/standards_rps/RP-912.pdf
My HO benchwork is 24" wide. I put my wires about 6" apart down the center. I chose 6" apart because I thought it would give me enough room between the wires to give me hand room while making the connections for the track feeds. This was for the yards, mailine, sidings etc. - just one set of wires down the center under the whole layout. - 9' x 11' around the walls using digitrax. Worked well for me
hopes this helps
ratled
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”