what gauge of wire should i use on my 4x8 layout...i have a double main line going around he layout and notice some power loss when runnign 2 trains at 1 time...
Hi John, welcome to the Forum!
Assuming your powerpack can run two trains effectively, and you are in HO, it sounds like you don't have enough track feeders bringing power equally to all the trackage. A good rule of thumb for a DCC layout is to have feeders every 3 ft or so. If you are running DC, then having feeders every 5 feet or so would work fine.
The feeder wire should be #20 or #22. For a layout of your size, putting in larger gauge power bus wires (#14 - from which short track feeder wires would be connected) is desirable but not necessary.
Also, you could be having bad connections between track sections.
By the way, my assumption that your powerpack could run your trains effectively may be wrong. Check the amps on the powerpack, and if its 2 or over you should be fine. Less than that would likely not get enough power to multiple engines.
Hope that helps!
PS: on your future questions (and we all have a lot of them), give more info as to scale, type of track, specific powerpack or whatever as it will aid others in helping you.
Mobilman44
"Playing with trains since the mid '50s"
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
John,
For DCC, 20 gauge feeders for a distance over a foot or two may be too long. DCC signal power can drop dramatically over such small wires. You might want to run a power bus of larger wires, and then run short 20 g feeder wires from that. For the size of your layout, you could just take ordinary electrical cord (usually 14 g), split it down the middle, and work with that. Also, to get optimum DCC performance, place feeders about 3-4 feet apart.
Hey, 8 months ago I knew very little of DCC, but am now rebuilding my HO layout from the ground up and converting to DCC at the same time. The above info is pretty consistent with what the experts here will tell you, and what I have read. I'm following it, and so far my testing has yielded good running.
ENJOY,