bus wiring

[mrmel0]

I'm starting to understand the concepts of gaps and blocks. In terms of bus wiring, I'm almost there. Are the ends of these "DCC BUS" lines simply capped off? and/or can they be used as the last feed?

Thanks.

[Maletrain]

First, what you seem to have there is only one block, because you have not indicated any insulated rail joints (or gaps) that make one section of the railroad electrically isolated from other part(s).  That is OK for a small layout.  If you want to make the inner loop and outer loop separate "blocks", you would do that with a separate bus to feed each loop and put "gaps" in the two crossovers to electrically separate the rails in the inner loop from the rails in the outer loop.

Typically, for DCC layouts, people do that only so that they can put separate circuit breakers on each block, so that a short in one block only stops the train(s) in that block, while the trains in other blocks continue to run.  But, with a low-power command station, the circuit breaker for the command station is usually set lower than the lowest separate DCC circuit breaker on the market, so that would be kind of a waste for your consideration, right now.

As for the ends of the bus(es), it really doesn't matter on a small layout.  For large layouts, the longer wiring on the buses can start to distort the DCC signals and mess-up train control (all over the layout, not just at the ends of the buses).  So, there are "snubbers" that are really just a capacitor and a resistor (of the proper values) connected in series across the wires for the two tracks, which basically absorb the DCC commands so that they don't reflect back along the wires from the ends. 

But, what you have drawn will work fine as one block that can control multiple trains running on any loop(s), using one command station.  If you want to have 2 or more people independently controlling 2 or more trains at the same time, you need to use a command station that can connect with multiple throttles, but you don't need multiple blocks (like you would need if it was a DC layout instead of a DCC layout).

[Hunt]

Save the ends of the bus wires for future installation of Snubbers (RC filter) should in the rare case of a small layout conditions dictate a need. 

[jward]

As a general rule. the DCC bus is a larger wire size, maybe 12-14 guage, than the feeders, 18 guage or smaller. If you are soldering the feeder wires to the rail, you will find the larger guage bus wires may be larger than the rail itself, especially in N scale. At any rate, soldered feeders with large guage wire will look out of place, and the smaller guage will be less obvious.

[mrmel0]

Thanks everyone.

The knowledge I'm gaining already indicates I could be in over my head.

I'm a "starter", so we'll see how it goes. This stone has rolled, I've got some $600+ worth of n scale crap coming in within the coming days.

[jward]

Don't let it overwhelm you. We were all beginners once. And no matter what anybody tells you, this hobby is way too big for one person to completely master. Just concentrate on learning the basics you need to get things up and running. Once you do that, you can concentrate your energy and money on what interests you most.

[mrmel0]

Don't let it overwhelm you. We were all beginners once. And no matter what anybody tells you, this hobby is way too big for one person to completely master. Just concentrate on learning the basics you need to get things up and running. Once you do that, you can concentrate your energy and money on what interests you most.

Appreciated. Hopefully, next year at this time I can answer questions instead of asking. I've got time. My wife has money. I'm going to give it a shot.