Welcome 2023 - January Update

January has been a productive month. Although it really isn't visible. The majority of January has been electrical work with the installation of feeders and sub-bus connections. 

In my last update I shared pictures of all the feeder wires placed in the holes drilled in Taylor Yard. Each feeder still had to be stripped and formed for installation (soldering) to the rails. 

I made the decision to change my methodology and add feeders to the frog rails for all the turnouts. This was done to guarantee electrical connection and not counting on the points for power routing. As I bench tested the Peco turnouts, I became concerned about power routing issues over time. I wanted to ensure that power routing via the points was not my only source of power for the frog rails. Now all turnouts will have four feeders rather than two as the frog rails will have feeders added. All previously completed turnouts needed the frog feeders added too. 

My goal is for reliable and consistent operating. The means electrical, dcc, trackwork, rolling stock, and motive power all of are equal priority.

Here are some before and after pictures in no particular order of the feeder installations.

For electrical construction of the Los Angeles Division, I am following the same electrical method for feeders, sub-bus and bus that I've used successfully on the Exeter Branch. Below is an article I wrote in 2011 about the process used on the Exeter Branch. 

In 2009 I built my railroad. I’m proud of the fact that I went from concept to first operating session in 11 months. That took a lot of planning and execution. Because my layout is designed exclusively for operations, reliability was and is extremely important. Not just electrically, but track work, rolling stock, and motive power as well. To date, I’ve hosted 44 operating sessions and have not had any electrical related issues. 

The premise of this article is wiring, but I’d like to identify some key decisions in support of that. First of all, DCC was a must. My preference is NCE, but it is my preference. Next, I wanted to ensure an operator on one side of the railroad would not short out the entire railroad. So, I divided the railroad into 5 power districts. Each power district has its own dedicated circuit breaker. All breakers and the NCE system are mounted on wall mounted panel under the layout. The panel IS removable if heavy maintenance is required. A single power strip is plugged into the wall allowing a single button to turn the railroad on/off. See figure 1. 

Another preference of mine is that each and every piece of track has feeders. I prefer to eliminate any dependence on rail joiners for electrical power. To that end, I do not solder rail joiners for electrical purposes, but rather add feeders to each piece of track. Even to 1" sections of track. That may be over engineering, but is my preference. 

Color codes: I decided to stick to a color code system to try to make my life easier.

• Track Bus: blue and white 12 gauge stranded wire
• Track Feeders: white or red and blue or green 22 gauge solid wire
• Feeder placement: white or red – rail closest to the aisle, blue or green – rail farthest 

Why did I mix feeder colors? Because the free wire I got had 4 wires in the bundle!

All feeders are soldered to the web of the rail for the rail connection. I bend the wire to fit inside the web. See figure 2. Because I keep the feeder lengths short, I can use a smaller gauge wire. In almost all cases, feeder wire length is 8 inches or less. 

As to the actual bus to feeder connection, I use a sub bus. See figure 3. The sub bus then connects to the track bus. I found this to be an easy way to bridge bus to feeder connections eliminating the need to bundle multiple feeders to on bus connection. Maintenance is much easier as well. 

I used 14 gauge solid copper wire for the sub bus. I had a bunch of scrap 14/3 Romex (household wire) that I used to supply the copper wire. I stripped a lot of it and would try to find a roll of unsheathed wire if doing it again. I stripped way too much wire! 

The process: 

I first solder all of my feeders to the track dropping them through the bench work. Once the feeders for a section are complete, I align them under the layout to get an idea of where the sub bus should be routed. In many cases, the sub bus can be bent to allow more feeders to be connected. I cut a piece of sub bus (14g solid copper) a 3-4 inches longer than needed. I prefer to leave some extra on each end. I the begin attaching the feeders (usually the rail closest to the aisle). Most are trimmed to be 4-6 inches under the bench top. Each wire is stripped and wrapped (Western Union wrap) around the sub bus. See figure 4. Each feeder wire is then soldered to the sub bus. I then repeat the process for the other rail feeders. 

Once all feeders are connected to each sub bus, I connect them to the track bus. This is done by stripping a 1" section of the sheathing off exposing the stranded 14g copper wire. See figure 5. I then wrap the exposed section around the sub bus wire and solder. I repeat it for the other bus. 

Each sub bus is arranged so it cannot contact/short the other. Each connection to the track bus is offset by a few inches to ensure no shorting. I do not cover the wire connections as they have been soldered. If your preference is to cover them, then heat shrink or liquid electrical tape is recommended. See figures 6 and 7 for bus connections. 

A couple of notes on the track bus wire. I prefer to buy stranded wire from an automotive lighting supply house. I use the Lighthouse in Phoenix. The reason I use automotive wire is that the case/sheath is soft and flexible. This makes inline stripping of the wire much easier. See figure 6. This is in contrast to the wire available at Home Depot or Lowes which has a hard plastic sheath. I use a stripping tool that you squeeze and it strips the sheath away (see figure 5). 

That’s about it. I have found this to be very simple and effective. The only downside is that my arms got really tired soldering all the feeders to the sub bus as it was over my head when sitting under the layout soldering.

That's about it for January. Wiring is a lot of work with little visible result. My next update will show more significant progress as more benchwork will be added.