ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
I'm kicking around the idea of running a LONG HO scale track through several rooms of my (very large) farm house, and possibly even outside in the spring/summer. Not a finished layout with scenery, just a basic track with ballast, a place to run trains for a LONG trip.
I'm thinking of using code 100 NS track, a combination of flex and sectional (I can get code 100 flex and sectional very cheap at train shows, and this will take a LOT of track). It would be DC only, no DCC, possibly divided into several very large blocks to give a place to "park" trains or allow for passing sidings.
My question involves getting power to the track over the long distances. I have an MRC power pack, but I'm sure it will not put out enough power to see my trains through their journey. Can I run a hard wired "power bus" with copper wire along the track? do I need some sort of booster? Anyone ever tried something similar?
How looooong of a route are we talking about? A general idea will help on more specific details about what to do. For the blocks, are you thinking about controlling them from a local point or near the blocks themselves? One more question, how much VA output does your MRC have? I'm not sure what you mean by a hard wired "power bus."
A couple hundred feet, at least, maybe as much as 500 or 600ft. I'd probably control the "blocks" with toggles in the vicinity of the block, I think a centralized control panel wouldn't work because of the distances involved.
I'm not sure of the output of my MRC pack, it's an older one, a standard DC pack from a few years ago, I wanna say a 1500??
As far as the "bus" I was thinking that a 2 strand copper wire, ran along the "layout" would conduct power better than the rails. I'd solder jumpers to the tracks every so often from the "bus".
My layout is 24ft by 36ft. w/probably about 600 to 800 ft. of track. I have 2 mainlines & I can run 2 long trains on each main. I use an MRC9500 w/35VA & a MRC CM20 Walkaround w/a High VA. I use 14ga. solid copper Buss w/20 to 24 ga. drops every 4 to 5 ft. soldered to the buss. I've never had any loss of power anyplace & not all of my track is soldered together. I run 2 to 4 loco's at 1 time pulling 35 to 55 cars. I also use manual operated ground throws for switching & all of my block switch's are right next to the block. Hope this helps. This summer I am planning on extending some of my rail from 1 building to the next w/some of the tracks outside. These tracks will be covered when the trains are not running or bad weather.
I have NOT taken any readings of voltage drops, but I have about 35-50 feet of runs from my one older power pack (which will shortly be replaced by a MRC Tech 6.0 so I can run sound on my DC layout). Just to be on the safe side, I ran a DC bus consisting of 12 AWG household solid copper wire in the standard covered insulated bundle from the control panel to the other end of the layout, where a second control panel is located. The two panels are located right across the 3-foot wide aisle from easy other, so I can operate either or both from a swivel chair. The 12 AWG goes to the far panel, and then 16 AWG wire is run back toward the middle of the layout from the block control toggle switches on the panels. Again, I haven't taken any measurements, but that would do for such a "short run" of about 50 feet. If you have any trouble, you could probably run two or even three pairs of wires connected in parallel to a distribution box next to the primary power source. Another "trick" would be to put the main power supply at the middle of the layout, and feed to both ends. You might also run multiple power supplies to blocks or districts a la DCC. The only problem would be when a train crosses from one district to another. You might also rig some sort of master controller that would slave separate power pack servos.
Our old club was in a large room, about 80' x 40' and the main ended up an Dog-bone loop about 4x's that long. We had the packs (double main lines)in one corner, with 14ga power wires running along underneath the bench work and feeds connecting to the tracks about every 4' (originally this was a traveling module setup). It worked fine, We also used older MRC packs but I opened them up and boosted the output, I think originally they put out 14v, after it was 20v (we never ran wide open but the power was there). We ran some very long trains, I had an old Athearn SD40T, by itself it pulled 80 cars.
One word of caution is you need large radius curves, maybe at least 36" (we had 48"r), because with a long train there is too much drag pulling it through the curve and the cars will pull apart (even with metal Kadee couplers) or the train will de-rail, remember the shortest distance is straight and when loco get past the curve will try to pull them across instead of around the curve if it has to much drag behind it.
the easiest way to do a bus is to run a length of Romex 10-12-14AWG (solid, not stranded) under the track and makes taps as needed. Romex is household power wiring available for very reasonable (if anything made of copper is reasonable anymore) at most big box Home Depot and Lowe's or the like.
For your block controls, running low voltage controls lines from a central panel (24v) to relays at the point on the layout to switch the track power.
