Track info

[jmcain]

What length of track can be powered by a power supply and what is the code for Bachmann  EZ track?

[jonathan]

EZ track rails are code 100.

If you connect to the track at more than one point on your track, you can use one power pack to run a very large "loop". I run a 'bus' wire around my layout and attach "feeders" every 3-6 feet.  My largest loop uses over 50 feet of track, and I use only one pack to run it. 

Regards,

Jonathan

[Flare]

Voltage drop issues will depend on the size of your layout, but a simple circle or oval of track such as the ones provided in starter sets shouldn't suffer noticeably unless the rail joiners are too loose.

Like Jonathan, I too use buss cables to attach feeders about every 5 feet, though my layout is an end-to-end E-Z Track configuration with return loops at each end.

Thanks to the copper buss wires, my power supply feeds one end of the 70-foot mainline and I have no noticeable reduction in speed at the other end.

[jmcain]

Thanks to all for your help

[jward]

My dad's layout has hundreds of feet of track including maybe 200 feet of single track mainline. Before it was converted to DCC, it was wired for block control with 4 mainline throttles and two that controlled yards only. Any of the mainline throttles could control a train anywhere on the layout if the block switches were set correctly. How much track you have is irrelevant to your power supply. How many locomotives you are trying to run is the determining factor, with the number of accessories such as switch motors a secondary concern.

The output of the power supply will determine how many locomotives you can run. In this case, the power supplies/throttles were MRC throttlepacks of tech 2s with an output of 17va. We could run up to 4 locomotives per train, mostly older Athearns that drew up to an amp each. Newer locomotives have a much lower current draw.