Wiring Tools:

To ensure that you have the correct tools to wire, solder and test the wiring on your layout, you should have some basic tools available, these include:

• Wire cutters;
• Wire strippers;
• Crimping tool (if using crimps);
• Multi meter;
• Soldering iron;
• Soldering iron stand; and
• solder:

Bus wiring:

In regular block wiring for cab control, you can use a bus for the common (negative) wire. In this case, you run the bus wire all around the bottom of your layout usually under the layout base. Then run track feeder wires from the common rail of the track to the bus. Usually it’s best to have a track feeder for about every 3 feet of track to assure that adequate current gets to all areas of the track throughout the layout.

You can connect each track feeder to the bus using a terminal strip, or you can strip the insulation off a small section of the bus wire, then wrap and solder the feeder wire to the bus wire.

For DCC wiring, you can have bus wires for both the positive and negative wires going all around the layout. Then connect feeder wires from the track rails to the appropriate bus, joining positive rails to the positive bus and negative rails to the negative bus.

This makes model railroad wiring for DCC much easier, because you don’t have to have multiple blocks with separate feeder wires going from the positive rails to switches on your control panel. The only problem with using buses for DCC is that if you get a short circuit somewhere, the whole layout shuts down. This is why many people recommend that if you have a large layout, you should separate your track layout into electrical blocks that are connected to circuit breakers then on to the booster unit. That way, if you have a short circuit, in one block, it will trip the circuit breaker for that block only and the rest of the layout will still be functional. You can then narrow your troubleshooting to that section of the layout connected to that circuit breaker.

How do you attach feeder wires to the tracks?

Specially-made wired metal rail joiners can be purchased and used as track feeder wires for your model railroad wiring. However, you can easily do this yourself by soldering one bare end of the 18-20 gauge feeder wire to the outer side of the track rail after I have threaded the wire through the layout. The other end of the feeder wire can be attached to the bus cable via your preferred method underneath the layout, or spliced to an extender wire to carry it back to a switch on the control panel.

How do you splice the ends of 2 wires together?

One method is to place a section of heat shrink tubing over one end of one of the wires, then wrap the bare ends of the wires tightly around each other, then solder them. Then move the heat shrink tubing over the connection while the solder is still fairly hot. You can also use the side of the soldering iron along the heat shrink tubing to heat it if necessary. Another method is to put a straight splice connector over one of the wires, wrap the bare ends of the wires together tightly, then slide the splice connector over the connection and crimp it using a crimping tool.

Threading wires through the layout surface:

How do you thread small gauge wires through several layers of extruded foam and plywood to get from the surface to the underside of your layout?

If you’ve ever tried to do this, you know how difficult it is. The best method for doing this is to get a long drill bit at least 3-4 diameters larger than the wire. Drill the hole through to the bottom of the layout. Then insert a metal tube, which you can buy at hobby stores, through the opening to the bottom. Then thread the wire through the tube. If necessary, you can attach a small fishing weight to the wire to help pull it down through the tube. Once the wire is through the tube to the other side, you can slide the tube out, leaving the wire in place.

Terminal Strips for Model Railroad Wiring:

Terminal strips are just strips of plastic with screws lined up on either side where you can fasten wires.  These strips are made of plastic for isolation of the circuit and can be cut to suit the application.  If you only have a positive and earth, you can cut the strip to have only two strips, rather than the twelve in the photograph.

Cable Splice Connectors:

Quite simply, to connect wires such as droppers to the main power bus, you insert the wires to be connected, close the "pillow" and close shut with a set of pliers.  This is a sturdy connection that can be made anywhere on your layout with minimum fuss.

Push In Type Connectors:

Push-in type wire connectors are designed so that you can just insert the wire into a hole, then drive a flat-ended screw on top of the wire to hold it in place.

Tag Strips:

Tag strips can be purchase in various sizes (2, 3, 4 and 8) tag sizes.  Tag strips are useful for connecting droppers to the bus (at any location) as you can strip the bus and solder to the dropper.  It is useful to cut through the top of the tag so that the stripped wire can be put into the tag ready for soldering.

Crimp Connectors:

Crimp connectors can be crimped onto the bare ends of wires to use as a neater way of attaching wires to screw terminals. These can be rounded or U-shaped, depending on how secure and/or permanent you want the connection to be. The U-shaped ones are easier to connect and disconnect without having to take the whole screw out each time.

As a rule of thumb, the following sized crimps are available indicated by the colour of crimp:

Note: This data is provided as a guide only and should be checked against manufacturers data.