Possible layout options?

77railer

Member
Once again I find myself wandering toward a panel of experts with a perplexing perdiciament if thats how you spell it,lol. I have S Gauge track. 84 curves and 53 straights, a couple uncouplers, one transformer, and a trestle. Anyone have any ideas on a layout that I could use other than an oval or a figure eight until I get some turnouts or maybe a crossover? Also I read in a book that it would be necessary to provide power to more than one source on the track. Is this done from that one tranformer I have. Thanks in advance for you responses. The closer I get the more excited I find myself.

77Railer
 

jetrock

Member
Typically you can use one power pack, but ensure that you have more than one set of leads to deliver power to various parts of the track.

Some advocate wiring power to every section of track, but personally I'm not that extreme--I normally have 2 or 3 power leads on each 6-foot section of my modules (I have a sectional layout.) If you only have one set of leads, you'll run into resistance--the track itself has a certain amount of resistance to electricity, meaning that the farther you are from the power leads the less juice your engine will get. This normally isn't a problem on a little loop but for something big it can be a real problem.

For a layout that big you might want either two-cab control or DCC, both of which are fairly complex subjects. To start with, ensure you have power leads every six feet or so, ideally connected to a common bus or terminal strip (so you don't have a zillion wires hanging off your power pack) plus any special wiring you'll need for reverse loops.
 
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