Twisting bus wires

Some areas of the layout have multiple wires running through them that look exactly the same as other wires but are for different purposes. Multiple main buses coming from a circuit panel would be such an example. If the wires run through holes with one wire per hole, keeping track of which wire belongs to what can be difficult.

Twisting the bus wires together provides not only an electrical benefit (as discussed on the Wiring for DCC website), but a physical benefit as well. Twisting bus wires together forms a cable, so any time you need to drop feeders to that bus you know that you've got the correct pair of wires.

This can make up for some deficiencies in a color code. An easy color code to use is color/black for track power, but in a complicated area multiple buses may have feeders dropped to them. If the wires are separate, it soon becomes easy to connect the track to the wrong black wire. Twisted, it's easier to keep track of.

There are some downsides to twisting, though. Twisted wires can make it harder to solder feeders to the bus, and some block detectors will detect false occupancy if twisted bus wires are used downstream from the detector.