Thank you all for your compliments.  Heeding the good advice that I have been receiving from the group has definitely kept me on the right track.  When I make some more progress, I'll post some more layout photos at that same site.  I think that the layout will really be something once I have the background, passenger station, RR signals and crossings and truck-rail terminal installed.

Boomertom, I am not quite sure what you mean by my operating scheme.   My layout is a DCC layout using the Bachmann E-Z Command system...or are you referring to the 4 railroads that I operate? 

I usually run 2 or 3 trains at the same time.  I can run all trains of any one railroad or any combination of the 4 railroads...both passenger and freight.

HO Scale.

To all of you good people who have really helped me over the last year-plus to resolve a variety of issues, I have decided to unveil my layout so you can see the payoff...and the progress to date.

I have posted over a hundred pics at the following site:

http://s584.photobucket.com/albums/ss284/BradKT/

The basic theme is an industrial park, with oil refinery complex (Conoco oil refinery, storage tanks, natural gas unloading facility and tanker truck loading facility), rail yard, fire station, engine house (with overhead crane, passenger car washing station and diesel locomotive refueling station), cement plant, gas station, warehouse, construction equipment rental company, bus terminal, taxi stand, passenger station and truck-rail facility.

The locale is either central or Southern California...in the eastern part of the state.  The time frame is the early to mid-1970s.  The flags that I run are Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Denver and Rio Grande Western and Santa Fe.

I made many of my own decals and got a substantial amount of billboard and advertising material from the 1970s era off the internet to re-create the era. 

This is still a work in progress.  I still have to do the following:

1:  wire the street lights, traffic and working RR crossing signals;
2.  install the RR crossing signals and actuators;
3.  install the background around the 2 outer edges of the L-shaped layout;
4.  assemble, paint and install the passenger station and figures; and
5.  assemble, paint and install the truck-rail terminal, vehicles and figures.

Yampa Bob took the time to teach me how re-size the files and how to post these images and they are a manageable size so they won't slow down your computer trying to load them.

I hope you enjoy what you see.  This has been a fun project and I couldn't have done anything near this quality had it not been for the contributions, cautionary notes and suggestions that so many of you have made.

Once again, thank you everyone.  There is a part of all of you in this layout.  Enjoy.

I just have to re-do some stuff where the the rerailers are located...very minor and it's all roadbed-related.  I'll probably fix that this weekend.  I am just delighted that the track is now operating like I thought that it should from day 1.

Gentlemen:  I thank you.  I successfully installed the bus lines yesterday and the feeder lines and terminal rerailers were installed today.  It made a world of difference.  A total of 11 terminal rerailers have now been installed...4 on the outside track, 4 on the middle track and 3 on the inner track. 

When I saw that photo that showed how a terminal strip was used to handle the bus and feeder lines, the light bulb went on in my head.  That was all I needed.

NOW I have enough power for my railroad layout.  No more crawling up the incline on the elevated outside track.  When I run 3 trains now (each with double diesel locomotives), all three trains run with more speed and power than when I was only running 1 train before.

Once again, the group has come through.  Thank you.

James...not to worry!  When I start a thread, a lot of different and constructive ideas (including cautionary notes) pop up...and that's cool.  I was the one who switched from the idea of making a jig to using the paper towel method using WD-40...or whatever.  It was an idea that I read about in Model Railroading magazine, tried and liked...after I had written the initial post.  That's what got everybody going.

Jim Banner:

The advice that the group gave to me regarding the resolution of this particular issue  (include the hardware referrals)...plus the excellent advice that you gave me regarding wiring the street and building lights on my layout...has really helped me to figure out how to do both projects.  In the process, I even found the fuses for the circuits for the lights.

Thanks again.

Jim Banner:

I was just referring to Bachmann's 5 amp booster.  Sorry...wrong terminology.

Yampa Bob:

The drawings are excellent.  I 've got a handle on this now.  Thank you.

To WGL: That's a good picture which tells me a lot about what I needed to know...especially about the jumper wires.  This really shows me what I needed to know about hooking up the feeder wires.  I assume that the two heavy black wires are the bus line...correct?  Where can I get that kind of 16 screw terminal strip?  That really sounds like the ticket for me as far as connecting the feeder lines are concerned.

I will have to plan where to install the re-railers as well...but I already have a pretty good idea about that.  Yeah, I have to take up some track (and have to re-do some scenery re: the roadbed to install the re-railers, but that's no big deal...a minor hassle, that's all.

After seeing this, I am getting much more comfortable about this project now.  It will probably be not quite a couple of weeks before all of the parts arrive, so I will have plenty of time to plan both how and where to run the wires, as well as how to secure them to the bottom of the layout.

Regarding securing the wires to the bottom of the layout, I plan to drill holes through the benchwork ribs and run the bus wire through them and through eyelets secured to the underside of the layout.  My layout is mounted on 1/2" thick plywood.  Does that sound OK or does anyone have a better idea?

The funny part about all of this is that for some time, I had been wondering about how effectively the power was getting to the entire track...given that there was only that one thin Bachmann red terminal wire connected to my  layout...that had already had to be replaced once because it had either shorted out or burnt out.

This setup will also help me to plan the lighting scheme for all of the street and building lights (which will be done with separate bus wires connected to a separate power source).  Jim Banner has really helped me to conceptualize that one...but that's a separate project for later...after I complete this one.  Wiring is one of those essential things that you absolutely have to get right the first time so you don't have to worry about it later.

I think that the last major remaining question that I have is connecting the main bus wires to the transformer.  The reason that I ask this question is that the diagram that I was sent suggests that I somehow connect the main bus line at the middle point of the line...and then running two wires to the transformer.  How should I do this?

Once again guys, it looks like you have come through.  Thank you.  I just made the mistake of not realizing that all of this had to be done up front.

I have a couple of basic questions:

1.  Are the 2 main bus wire connected at one end to the 5 volt powerpack?

2.  Assume that I would use the red Bachmann terminal wires as feeder wires to connect to the rerailer terminals that I will put in the track (and replace 10 straight sections at various points around the layout...4 on the outer track...four in the middle track...and 2 on opposite sides of the oval).  What kind of connector do you use to connect the feeder wires to the main bus wires?  I would want to use something stronger than solder.  I noticed that you mentioned either terminal strips or crimp terminals (I like the idea of terminal strips).  What are those and where can I get them?  I would definitely like to see a picture of what you are talking about.

3. jward...No I do not leave DC trains on the tracks when I am running my DCC trains.

4.  Should I go ahead and order the re-railers and terminal wires or should I waut until I hear back from you?  I was going to get 10.

It looks like I am going to be doing this myself. 

My E:mail address is Bradfordtalamon@att.net.

I read the thread and printed it out.  If I am understanding this correctly, are you telling me that I should have approximately TWELVE different terminal wire connections to my track(s) in TWELVE different locations around the layout?

That means that I will have to tear up almost everything.  If that's the case, so much for an EZ track connection.  Right now, I am thoroughly disgusted with myself...and pretty discouraged.

There are more questions running though my head right now...it's spinning,  I have done this all wrong.  This sounds like an electrician's job.  Let me start with the following:

1.  I have no electrical background and I don't understand squat about what a "bus" wire is.  My layman's guess is that you are talking about two main wires (14 gauge I think) running around my layout (under the layout table)  Is there some sort of wiring diagram anywhere that I could refer to?

2.  How do you go about securing this wire under the layout table?

3.  If my understanding in #1 is correct, how would you securely connect the EZ track terminal connectors running from the track to the bus wire?  It would seem to me that there must be some sort of connector (from Radio Shack or something) that you could screw the bus wire to and from, with leads to the terminal connection that are also screwed down...kind of like a "T" with the bus wire running along the top.

4.  Should I have an electrician do this work?

I don't quite understand what you mean by feeders.  There is only one terminal running to the transformer (the 6 amp booster) that is plugged into the standard terminal track, which is a part of the outer track (track 1). 

All locos are DCC, but they are not sound equipped.  I use Digitrax 4 function decoders (DH 165AO for Atlas engines and the DH 163AT for Athearn engines).

The cars are all free rolling.  I don't think that that is the problem.  Although I sometimes run 10-plus car trains (12 cars at most), I am usually running 6 or 7 car trains.  The trains run faster when I run shorter trains, but they all slow down noticeably when I try to run 3 trains.

I think that I may have an electrical power issue (not enough).  I use a Bachmann EZ Command system setup withe the 5 amp booster.

My layout is L-shaped.  One side is 9'x5' and the other side is 9'x6'.  This makes one side of the L-shape 14' long and the other side 9' long.  There is an access hatch where they intersect.

There are 3 tracks.  The outer and middle tracks (tracks 1 and 2) go around the outside of the "L" shape of the layout.  The inner track (track 3) is a large oval in the middle of the payout.   Tracks 1, 2 and 3 are all connected by turnouts that allow trains to be switched back and forth between the 3 tracks.  While there are sidings and a small rail yard, there is no need to discuss them here.  I just wanted to give you the size and general configuration of the layout.

The switches are powered by a separate DC transformer.

The trains that I run are normally pulled by 2 engines (usually Athearn or Atlas DCC, but I also have a few Bachmann DCC engines that I run as well).  That would mean that when I am running 3 trains, 6 engines are operating on the 3 tracks.

Here is the issue.  When I run only 1 train on the layout, it runs noticably faster than if I try to run 2 or 3.  It's like when I try to run 3 trains, they are slightly underpowered. 

Does anyone have any thoughts about this and what can I do about it?

Thanks for all the good info guys.  I also tried the paper towel method with alcohol and it got even more dirt off the wheels.

The point is that I have definitely found an effective way to clean the wheels of my locomotives.

I hope that this discussion helped some others.  As Yampa Bob said, there is no one right way to do this.