I am finishing up the bench work on a 10 x 10 around the room 3 rail O Scale layout. I am about ready to start laying the track and have some questions about wiring / power. Any thoughts / best practices would be appreciated!
I have a single outer loop with two passing tracks in opposite corners, a small yard, a few sidings, etc. I am running strictly Lionel TMCC with a pair of K-Line F7s (both powered) a Williams Berkshire (with TA Studios EOB & sound installed) an Atlas SW8 and a Lionel GP7. I will be the only operator, so chances of more than one train running will be small to non-existant, however, a few or all may be powered on with sound, etc.
My plan was to wire up the layout with Lionel PowerHouse 180 watt transformers running through TPC 300 / 400. I was going to use a single PowerHouse with a TPC 300 for the two passing loops + yard and dual PowerHouses (360W) through a TPC 400 for the main loop. Is this too much power, if there is such as a thing [:)] ?
Second question is on feeder wires. I was planning on running the output from the TPCs directly to a terminal / bus strips like those available at Radio Shack. I was going to use 12 Gauge wire for that run and then place feeder wires off the bus strip using 18 Guage wire. Do these wire sizes sound right for the amount of power being delivered? What is the rule of thumb for feeder wires – how many feet of track between feeder, such you run the same number of feeders for the hot and common?
Thanks for any ideas / help!
- Luther