# powering a basic large o scale layout



## granger (Nov 8, 2009)

Hello all and please pardon the newbie question.

I want to run an o scale train around the exterior of a room in our house. While the layout is VERY basic there is a good amount of track to power (at least by my estimate). What is the best way to power this layout? Some background on the layout, this is going to be a seasonal thing. And at least for the first year there will just be MYH realtrax laying on hardwood floor, meaning this isn't sitting on top of something that I can run wires beneath so minimal wiring or something that I can keep in line with the track as opposed to running accross the middle of the room is ideal.

Again, sorry for the dumb question but I am not sure what I am getting myself into.

Thank you very much for any help you can offer

btw, I current have a Mth 40-1000 100 Watt Transformer


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Place the transformer were you want and see if the train slows directly across. If it does ,add a wire. The wire conducts better so you can run it along the track, thought the shorter the better. If you add two, it should be fine evenly spaced out with the transformer.

60 ft of track. The larger the wire feeds the better, with that you can experiment to see what works out.Maybe 16 gage or so.


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## granger (Nov 8, 2009)

T-Man said:


> Place the transformer were you want and see if the train slows directly across. If it does ,add a wire. The wire conducts better so you can run it along the track, thought the shorter the better. If you add two, it should be fine evenly spaced out with the transformer.


Thanks for your help! I am setting this up next weekend so I guess I'll see then. 

btw, the scale of the picture is 18' 8" by 10' 4". (meant to include that in the first post)


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## DcJack (Nov 11, 2009)

Nice, also am going to setup something like this.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

Granger,

Another possibility is to go down, if this is a first floor room and you have a basement or crawl space. You can drill a very small, unobtrusive hole right next to the wall or quarter-round at the base of the wall. Run a hot lead under the room and bring it up through a second hole across the room. Take an old wire coat-hanger and untwist it; push it down thru the second hole to help you find it; tape the end of the wire to the coat-hanger to pull it up through the hole. That way, your wire only stretchs from the nearest wall to the hot rail of the track.


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