Outdoor Wiring

G-Scale Railroaders,

I'm a neophyte. I've spent much of the winter reading books and articles about building a G-Scale layout. I'm awash with info and have concluded that, in order to make sense of it all, I either have to return to MIT for a PhD--or I just have to start building it and ask questions as I go. I've picked the latter course.

Ultimately, the layout will have something over 800' of track. My reading has me believing that, even with DCC, I'll need several blocks. It will have a dozen or more turnouts, which I intend to automate as DCC auxiliary devices.

The terrain is tough digging so I plan to chase the wiring in the bottom of the roadbed. I know that I need a 10-2 w/Gnd to carry 110V power to the supplemental power stations and to the polarity reversing modules that'll be required in several places. I plan to use UF cable for this and bring any connections above ground in waterproof EMT tubing and connectors (eventually, I'll cover the modules and these connections with a scale structure).

But what about the bus wires from the power sources to the track? I've got to tap in feeders from bus-to-rail every 3' to 4', according to my reading. If I used UF cable rather than individual wires for the bus, I'll still have violated the sheath every 3' to 4' and still have single-wire feeders.

If I use single wires in the bus, they would be, of course, PVC coated as would be the feeder wires. I'm reasonably meticulous and could make the junctions of feeder and bus wire waterproof.

The weather in South Carolina is pleasant by and large--but I've been here since November and have experienced three intense rainfalls. Fortunately, my yard is on a bit of a rise so it drains after the rain rather than stands. But the layout is pummeled when it's raining.

Any and all comments will be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Malcolm Stewart
 

steamhead

Active Member
Hi Malcom...Welcome to The Gauge..!! You'll find it a great place to seek (and offer) advice. There's a great bunch of friendly, knowledgeable people here that'll bend over backwards to lend a hand. One thing you should know, though. As you may have noticed, when you open this forum, there's a bunch of sub-forums that address "special" interests. There's a photo & scenery forum, The Caboose (where we mostly just hang out..), HO, N & Z scales, and so on. For your particular interest, and where you'll probably find more people with the right answers, there's the Large Scale forum. Of course, we can all surf all over the Gauge, but some places are better than others if you're looking to get a specific issue addressed. Try copying this post to a new thread in the Large Scale forum and I'm sure you'll get what you're looking for.

Good luck with your new enterprise and keep us posted on your progress..!!
 
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