I am fairly new to the subject of dcc wiring etc. but wanting to know if a 10 gauge bus wire would be ok to use as I have some available or should i go with another gauge. any suggestions would be helpful. thanks.
10 gauge is overkill but will work. We use 12 gauge on a large club layout.
Peter
Welcome aboard.
If your question is "Is it OK to use?" the answer is yes. You can also use 8 or even larger.
You don't need anywhere near that size, but it will work if you have a lot of it laying around.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
All good words so far. How big is your layout? 10-gauge is heavy stuff, and it can be difficult to work with, but if you don't mind that it will work just fine.
If you are just starting the layout, think about doing the bus wires as you build the benchwork. It's a lot easier to work on that from above, before you put in subroadbed and track.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Do you have any coiled up unused loudspeaker wires? Perfect for a bus on all but the largest railroads. 14-18 gauge is fine for a bus, 12 and heavier, unless it is free or paid-for-and-idle, is heavily overdone on all but museum-sized roads.
Crandell
It all depends on the scale you are working with, the size of the layout, if you have lineside lighting, switch motors, large engines with sound, etc.... It can very well be overkill, but better to overkill than underestimate.
The largest you might need is 14 or 12 gauge, so 10 will work just fine.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Route of the Black Diamond Express, John Wilkes and Maple Leaf.
-Jake, modeling the Barclay, Towanda & Susquehanna.