I just wanted you all to know how much I appreciate all your kind thoughts and interest... I seem to be able to get it now. So off to the real test, thanks again.
Dave
I use 1 1/4" safety cup hooks screwed into the underside of my benchwork. I screw them into the cross members (on 16" centers) about 2 inches back from the edge. They hold my #12 gauge bus wires (the safety spring prevents them falling out). I can easily take a short stretch of bus wire out of 2 or 3 hooks while sitting in a chair in front of the layout (my layout is 50" high). To this I attach the feeders and then put the bus wires back in the safety cup hooks.
This system works well for me because I don't have to pull bus wires through holes in the benchwork. I don't have to fasten them to the front of the layout somehow. I have slack in the wiring so it's easy to work with. And with the top of the layout at 50", they are easily accessible and readily available from my chair in the aisle.
Paul
Just another advantage of Free-mo:
We can tip our modules up on edge, and the wiring is all in front of us.
Ed
DAVID PARSONthe great article which described doing the major bus wiring and connections direct to track up front of the layout, concealed behind a false front.
Or you might be thinking of the Workshop Tip in the March 2014 issue of MR that was submitted by Brother Elias Thienpont -- otherwise better known to us Forum users as Broadway Lion. I think LION has also submitted some Forum postings on the same topic from time to time.
Years ago there was an article in RMC - and now I am unable to find it -- where the guy did his major wiring on something resembling a ping pong paddle (or what's known as a pizza peel) which he could pull out from beneath the layout (so there was enough wire used to allow it to be pulled out). The advantage of the "paddle" format was that there was plenty of room on the flat base to label everything and make some notes, screw on terminal strips, etc. So there would presumably be one of these paddles every few feet along the layout. The common theme is ease of access and being able to be right side up when wiring or troubleshooting/checking on wiring.
Dave Nelson
A similar technique was also briefly touched upon and illustrated with two photos in my article on the proto-freelanced Bakersfield & Ventura layout in Model Railroad Planning 2016, page 55.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
We used that technique in building and wiring our N scale Red Oak project layout. The details are in our February and March 2015 issues.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
I hade made a note of the exact issue of MR that had the great article which described doing the major bus wiring and connections direct to track up front of the layout, concealed behind a false front. So everything out in the open and not having to solder underneath the layout... and I'm way past being a senior. I also mislaid the note to myself... can anyone help me out with the isssue date? I think it was within the last two years. Thanks.