Adding more steel track and accessories

[Northwest Line]

After a 30 year hiatus I recently purchased a new Bachmann Walt Disney Carolwood Train Set!  I'm excited to get back into the hobby but wow, it's changed since I bought my last train in the 70's!  :-)  Now it's time for some basic questions.

The set came with the black steel EZ Track system.  From what I've read I think this will meet my needs.   However, I would like to add some additional track and I'm curious if there is a limit to how much track I could add without affecting the amount of power to the train.  What about accessories?  Does anyone have advice or a good rule of thumb to follow?

Thanks for the words of wisdom!

[ABC]

You can always add additional feeders if you are having problems in some parts of the layout. For accessories look for sales to get your stuff cheap.

[Jim Banner]

Welcome back to the wonderful world of model railroading 

If your accessories are electrified (lights, animation, remote controlled turnouts (aka switches,) then plan to have a separate source of power to run them.  Many train set power packs have accessory outputs but they are generally designed for running only a few lights at a time, or operating turnouts one at a time.  Much more than that, they rob power from the train(s), causing them to slow down.  If/when you decide to use Digital Command Control (DCC,) you will have to power your electric accessories separately anyway.

Those extra feeders ABC suggested do not have to run all the way back to your power pack.  They can instead go to a 'power bus'.  This is simply a pair of heavy wires (14 gauge or even 12 gauge) that connect to your power pack and carry the power all over the layout, usually underneath it.  Then short, light weight feeders can go from the power bus to your track.  In either case, you have to keep track of which bus wire connects to which rail.  I usually use one black and one white wire for the bus and connect the white wire to the outside rail.  Most layouts form some kind of loop, so calling one rail the outside rail and the other the inside rail makes sense.  Bottom line, if you use a power bus, then there is virtually no limit to the amount of track that your power pack can handle.  It already produces enough power to run your train.  It is just a matter of getting it to where it is needed.

Jim

[Northwest Line]

Jim and ABC,
Thanks so much for your helpful comments.  I'm really excited to get my track set up and enjoy all the creativity that goes along with it.

I've already been purchasing buildings and scenery so the additional lighting is all icing on the cake.

Thanks again!
Dale

[Doneldon]

Welcome back!

You can get a pretty broad range of track and swittches for your Bachmann black roadbed EZTrack but you might want to shift to the grey roadbed with nickel-silver rail.  The steel track may rust, plus, there's an even larger array of pieces available with the grey roadbed.  If you plan to return to the hobby in a big way you might want to go to separate track nd roadbed.  It will be much cheaper and look better. 

Once again, welcome back!