Wiring

[Anonymous]

Hi all

First i want to say is i am so new to trains that my questions may seem to simple but when i say im new i really mean new. I have decided to go dcc. Ihave purchased some track from someone thats a bit old brass code 100. I need to know what to buy like controllers switches what ever??? Wiring I have no diagrams so i dont know the first thing about what to wire what kind of wire where does it get connected and all other questions. Forgive me for my stupidity but like i said i am new. thanks in advance for any assistance

[NeO6874]

 

I hate to tell you, but you made a mistake by buying the brass rail.  It has a lot more (electrical) problems than Nickel Silver rail, and you have to clean it almost constantly... It isn't a huge problem, but I would reccommend buying new NS rail and using the brass for either unpowered sidings or as scrap loads.  It will save you a lot of headaches as you're getting into the hobby.

 

If you are going DCC - you have to pick out a system.  The system will then determine the controllers (cabs) that you are able to use, as one company's cab is not compatable with another company's DCC system.  You don't have to worry about DCC decoders though (for the locomotives) - those are all standardized, and any decoder will work with any DCC system.  There are two or three main starter sets that always seem to get reccommended (that is not to say that there are only two good systems, these are just the ones most reccommended).

 

You have the choice of the Digitrax Zephyr, the NCE PowerCab, and i think the Lenz 100 (i might be wrong here).  Tony's Trains has good reviews of these systems. Tom (one of the members here) has also written a good review of the NCE Powercab, and some of the accessories.

• Tom's PowerCab Review
• Tom's Cab-04p review
• Tom's SB3 Review
  

As far as wiring goes, your simplest route is to take two feeders (22 AWG or so) from the DCC command station/booster and connect them to the rails.  This will work for most "simple" 4x8 starter layouts.  If you're going to have something larger, you will need a bus of 18-14 AWG wire that you then connect the feeders to.  Now, there are two positions on this - somepeople believe that it is better to use solid wire for everything, others believer stranded bus wire, with solid feeders is the way to go, still others use stranded wire for everything.  The wire choice is primarily a personal preference (after one adheres to the wire sizes for the intended purpose)

This is the best that I can help you as your first post is a little vague.  What exactly are you looking for as far as the "controllers, switches, whatever"?

 

EDIT: before you go too much further, it might be a good idea to make a list of "givens and druthers" so that you can have kind of a focus for your layout, and so that we can all help you better. Givens are the things you can't change (room size, stuff in the way, door placement, etc) and druthers are what you want to see/do with your layout (coal mine, roundhouse, passenger trains, etc)

 

An example list might be like:

GIVENS:

Room size - 10 x 15 feet

support column(s) in the center of the room

doors open in

 

DRUTHERS:

NYC in 1938-'42

Passenger trains

Large steam

roundhouse/engine servicing facilities

some switching challenges & some continuous running

 

You might also want to pick up John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation from your local library or Local Hobby Shop (LHS) to use as a reference while building your empire... 

[Anonymous]

Well I am going to start with an 8' x 8' square. Do you reccomend ez track or code 100. What about Bachman's ez command dcc. I want a 4 total trains running the track. Will i be able to do that in HO or will I have to go to the n scale. How far apart should track wires be in feet to the next connection?

[Texas Zepher]

Well I am going to start with an 8' x 8' square.

The problem with and 8x8 foot square is going to be reaching the 4 feet into the center of it. I don't know why you choose this shape, but I try to design things that aren't more than a 2 foot reach to any given point.   Is this just an arbitrary size you choose or is it a limitation based on available space?

Do you reccomend ez track or code 100.

Actually I believe that Ez-Track is code 100.  The "code" of a toy train track simply is how tall the rail is.  A code 100 rail is taller than a code 83 rail.  I personally have never used EZ track, mostly because I do not like the very limited selection of track pieces available.  I much prefer stand alone track such as Atlas custom line, Peco, Shinohara, Walthers, and a few others that can be mixed and matched as desired.  I have heard that the Ez-Track isn't easy at all, especially the turnouts are way too tight and problematic to maintain.

What about Bachman's ez command dcc. I want a 4 total trains running the track.

Bachmann's unit will do that.  I have never used the Bachmann unit so beyond knowing it will run for trains I can't say much about it.  I personally have the MRC, Digitrax Zephyr, and Lenz DCC systems.

I want a 4 total trains running the track. Will i be able to do that in HO or will I have to go to the n scale.

It depends on what you mean by running.  Do you mean 4 trains that you turn on and then just let them run around in loops?  That could be done in HO scale but it might be tricky to make it interesting with that little space.

How far apart should track wires be in feet to the next connection?

Irrelevant at this point of you planning.  I ran a system over Christmas that had one connection every 24 feet.  It worked fine.  Putting that on an 8x8 loop means I would have 1 connection per loop.  The number of connections you will need depends a lot on whether you choose HO or N, how the track is configured, how the 4 trains are going to run (previous point), what kind of track (especially turnouts) is going to be used, and other minor things like which locomotives will be run and in what combinations.

[NeO6874]

EZ track is code 100. I'm looking at some right now... what it lacks in selection it more than makes up for in "sit it on the shelf and use it for display".  Or at least moreso than the cd. 100 sections that i used to have...

 

I agree with TZ that an 8x8 square is going to be hard to use effectively.  Especially the roughly 4x4 section in the middle that you (more likely than not) won't be able to reach.

[cudaken]

as well. Biggest mistake I have made is the 4 foot wide bench, second was not reading about what I wanted to do.

 As far as the EZ track, I started with the Life Like verson of EZ. What I hate was the racket it will make. With it having its owe road bed that is hollow it like a sound box, makes it louder than it should be. I gave away around 89 sections to a member of the site.

 On the Bachmann E-Z comand, great way to start. It does a lot and easy to learn, I am not that smart as you can see from my spelling. Depending on how hard core you become you may out grow it quickly like I have. A $320.00 engine should not be ran by a $100.00 DCC unit. Main thing is the limet is sound's. But that is a driffrent story that is way a head of this postings.

 My feeder wires are about 12 feet a part with no real probems.

                  Cuda Ken