My set comes with 9 pieces of track. How much additional track can I put with it without draining the power? Can I add multiple power sources or a larger one? I am missing one piece of straight track and I guess it must have had the connections for the power supply - otherwise I don’t see a way to connect the power.
Thanks for the help - I’m wanting to fire this thing up for my children and need a few tips.
Welcome to the forum! Let me try to address your questions in order. You can add quite a lot of track before the power drops off. It depends somewhat on the transformer. There’s lots of different ways to do it - as I do not understand electricity very well (I’ve learned alot on this forum), I have just a single connection to the track from an old “R” transformer and successfully added about 64 ft. of track - but I’ll guess my old transformer puts out more power than yours… To get power from your transformer to the track, you need what’s called a lock-on - which is a clip with leads on it that attaches to the track. You attach the wires from your transformer to the leads on the lock on, and you’re in business. You can certainly have multiple transformers ‘attached’ to your track - I would recommend isolating each one into separate ‘blocks’ using a plastic track connector in the center rail on each side of the block.
All metal conducts electricity, and all metal resists its flow (the only thing without any electrical resistance is a super conductor, but toy trains don’t have any). This resistance causes two effects:
If you have a simple oval with one power connection, as the train moves around the track, the distance the electricity has to flow increases until the train is exactly 1/2 of the way around the track from the connection. Then it decreases.
The resistance in the track is measured in terms of units of resistance per linear distance of track. That is, a longer piece of track will have more resistance. You get the same increase in resistance if you put together two small pieces of track to form a longer run.
There are also changes in resistance associated with the connections between successive track sections. The amount depends upon how tight the connections are around the connecting pins or joiners (depending upon track type, tubular vs. solid).
One transformer can provide all the electricity a train needs to operate no matter how much track you have. You can reduce the amount of voltage drop in several ways:
Everyone’s heard the statement “electricity takes the path of least resistance.” This is the basis for how #2 above works.
A wider wire has less resistance per unit length than a thinner wire. How wide a wire is can be determined by its “AWG” gauge; the larger the wire, the lower its gauge number. Instead of having the electricity go into one connection on the track, you use thicker wire to connect the transformer to the track in multiple places. The current will flow through the thicker wire until it gets to the track connection nearest to where the train is, and then it g
A more powerful transformer will run bigger trains. It will help to overcome voltage lost to track resistance only if it is replacing a transformer that is too small for the train and is not putting out its rated voltage in the first place. I suggest that you start by making sure that your track connections are snug; and you probably won’t have any trouble, even with several times as much track as you have now.
Lock-ons are cheap and easy to find. However, they have a way of coming loose. Soldering the wires to the track is very reliable. Solder to the center rail and to one outside rail, but avoid the inner side of the outside rail, so as not to interfere with the wheel flanges.
The joints in toy train track cause more resistance than the length of track, I would run two 16 gauge buss wires (14 gauge if you are running big scale trains - 18 gauge if you are running small 027 trains) and make connections to the track every ten sections with lockons or soldered joints which are better. You won’t notice resistance or voltage drop in lengths of track under 50 feet doing it this way…
I understand the resistance calculations but when I say he “won’t notice” I meant he won’t notice enough voltage drop to noticeably slow his train down. I was thinking an MPC set that draws around 4 to 6 amps maybe. 10 amps is another story.
Dang, this is such a clear and helpful thread - thanks for sharing this…
Thanks! I’m in the process of acquiring more track that includes the power connectors that I am missing. Once I get it going I will report back with the results.