I was given a set of about 125 N scale cars and engines from my father about 2 years ago and now have the time & space to build my dream layout. After starring @ the table top for about a month and numerous hours of doodling I had a vision. So I stared my layout and am now @ the point I need HELP!!!!!! The set came with about half the Kato track I'm using so I stayed with it and have now completed the entire layout excepted landscaping, roads and all the buildings I have in mind. I live in a rural areas of North Carolina and haven't found anyone locally who can give me a hand on wiring my track. I bought a couple of books on the subject but try as I might it is still overwhelming. They all seam to cater to flex track and this is part of my apprehension (along with the fact I'm intimidated buy electricity).I looked into DCC but find the cost prohibiting to my budget (changing over all the engines, the controller, etc.) I think I've laid out my tracks so I can run two sets of trains @ the same time. I have two transformers(Railpower 1300 & TechII Railmaster 2400)and am not sure if I can slave one of them for the yard section of my layout. If you could could take a look at my layout, walk me through the wiring process, the parts I need, what order I should start with and any suggestion you might have I'd be forever grateful. Please keep in mind I have Kato track and some of the terminology may be different than that of standard flex track.
Firstly, a warm welcome to Trainboard I am not familiar with Kato track, but I think others here may be. Do you have a track plan you can show us or can you take a photo or two to illustrate the track plan? Photographs or plans can be uploaded to Railimages.com (Links at top of pages). I am sure you will get all the help you need right here
I just had my first serious wiring experience and found Cab Control wiring rather simple. You only needs Atlas Selectors, insulated joiners and lots of terminal joiners. They're the rail joiners that have wires attached to them to bring the electricity. You can buy them but they are rather expensive so you can make your own with a soldering iron. I did ruin 15-20 joiners before I got 6 good, working ones, though. The point is to isolate "sections" or rails, called "blocks" and wire them independentaly. You choose one of the rails to be the common grounding rail (always use the same...) and connect the other rail to the Selector. This might be easier with a drawing (I'm a very visual person).
