Some thoughts on wiring...

I keep messing with the wiring on my model railroad. It's not that it's bad, it's that it's not as portable as I'd like. When the railroad has to be moved, the wiring job isn't easy. Contrast this to Ntrak, where hundreds of modules can be connected together for just a single weekend. Each module, even those with the complex track plans, are connected and ready to go wiring wise in under 10 minutes a module.

A home layout, especially a block wired layout, presents different challenges, however. You no longer have a primary track bus to just snap together, you have wires for this track and that track. Even with as neat as I tried to be, I've still got a mess of wiring under the layout. As I go to redo it for the final time (I hope) I'm going to define and implement some conventions and standards.

Wires to the track will all trace back to a terminal strip on the module. They'll be a different color or style than wires that pass through the module. Wires that pass through a module will have PowerPole connectors on the ends, and since I don't have to worry about changing ends as a standards body does it, I can eliminate the two terminal strips per module required for the through bus.

Oh, did I mention in the next two years I expect to upgrade to DCC? This means heavier wire, which I have, and considering how the different blocks will tie together nicely. Does anyone make a European style distribution block?

As your layout gets more complex than a simple loop and siding, you need to sit down and seriously plan the wiring. If you're doing an incremental build, you still need to plan all the wiring first. This will save you many headaches later.


This post has been edited at 2008-01-09 06:19:15