I will be receiving my new DCC system in a few days and am looking forward to using it. The only problem is that I don't have a layout. I have a bunch of Bachmann EZ track that I set up on the floor and run trains for a couple of days. I would like to know what would be a good way to evenly distribute the electicity through the track. Right now I have just one set of wires hooked to the oval of track.
Thanks
Will
That is not a problem with DCC. You can just hook up the 2 wires to your DCC system and you are up and running! This is exactly what I have right now to test my installs.
Yikes! Carpet and trains is generally not a good combination but if that is all you can do then go for it. Just be sure to check your trains frequently and remove any stray carpet fibers that would otherwise gum up the works.
As for your question, how big is your oval or other track arrangement? If only a few feet on a side you probably don't have to worry about it. Watch for slowing of your trains as they get farther away from your connection point. If that happens you will need to add more connection points.
Good luck.
It'll work, sort of. Depending on how big the oval is and how often you've connected and disconnected the EZ Track. I started out with a simple loop of EZ track plus 1 straight section on each side - that worked fine with just the one terminal connection. I then set up a 4x8 oval with the same EZ Track adn even with 4 feeders equally spaced I had issues. I then built my previous layout, 8x12 with flex track - when I hooked up ONE set of feeders to test it all was fine - although I actually did wire a proepr bus and feeders all around.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Take it for what it's worth but no offense intended but through that easy track right in the garbage. Go to you LHS and buy some Atlas Snap track just to start off with no great expense enough to make a decnet size oval. on your way home from the LHS stop at Home Depot or Lowes and pick up a piece of 1/2" plywood and rest iton a pair of saw horses. You can even use a hollow core door off their scratch and dent pile. By doing this you'll be starting off on the right foot. Practice soldering your drop wires, you won't need to run a DCC buss wire but you can do it for the practice. When you feel comfortable pick up a pair of turnouts and play around with installing them. Sure your easy track will work but you need to keep it off the floor and put it on some sort of table anyway. This way your practicing with the stuff you will eventually be using on your layout. The nice thing is this isn't going to go to waste either because sooner or later you'll be building a test track. Good luck and have fun with your new system.
Please forgive me. I should have clarified things a lot more. For the carpet issue. I run the trains in an area that does not have a lot of traffic going in the area. I also used a green drop cloth that I found some where for free and it helps fight against lint and other materials. I have never had any problems with the EZ Track and it works for me just fine. I currently don't have the space for a layout. I also have no pets inside the house. The track radius is 26". The straight parts are about 4feet long each. I am considering using a power distribution block. Any more suggestions would be helpful.
Wholeman,
Enjoy your DCC and EZ track floor layout! Whenever he comes to visit from out of state, my grandson and I have thoroughly enjoyed changing our temporary EZ track layouts for the last 5 years. We run trains on the floor in one, two, three and even four rooms all over the house until he goes home. Did I mention that his grandma is very tolerant of stepping over track!
The beauty of EZ track is that its roadbed keeps it from getting too much litter on rails. And we can experiment with many different layouts until that day my wife and I get a house with a big basement. My grandson (now in college but still loves trains) and I also used our EZ track to set up temporary layouts up to 8' x 12' for veterans and visitors at our local VA hospital on holiday weekends using regular dining room tables and 4' x 8' foam boards. A lot of fun for them and us!
We do make sure we clean all track, locos, and running stock wheels before we carefully store them between layouts. Periodically we replace track connectors when they become loose but surprisingly that's not too much.
Remember it's your railroad, and the purpose of model railroading is to have fun, no matter how you do it!
Dave
USAF (Retired)
Wholeman
I have been in your situation. My last house I had the ez track set up on my basement floor. If you have a newer house and the floor is not carpeted look at the size of the "blocks" cut into the floor(expansion joints). I had my layout spread out 3.5 blocks long by almost 2 blocks wide. In our house our blocks were 8-10 feet square. I ran all this with the bachman dcc system with only one power lead. I had multiple switches and runoffs. I ran 2 trains at a time with another 1-2 sitting idle on the track. I had no issues with slowing of trains or not having enough power.
mike
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
wholemanI will be receiving my new DCC system in a few days and am looking forward to using it. The only problem is that I don't have a layout. I have a bunch of Bachmann EZ track that I set up on the floor and run trains for a couple of days. I would like to know what would be a good way to evenly distribute the electicity through the track. Right now I have just one set of wires hooked to the oval of track.
I have four (4) DCC systems and no layout. Every year at Christmas time I run two wires from the DCC controller to the temporary loop of track (even if the loop is around the entire 20x30 room) and run the trains just fine. I will make the caveat that my track is brass, so it conducts much better than steel or NS.