I've learned a lot since getting back into this hobby last year. One area that I still don't get (and honestly have little interest in!) is wiring. I made the below layout and while it works it's got several dead/slow spots. Pretty certain I didn't use the right gauge of wire. The layout is current powered by a Lionel CW-80 though I also have a MTH Z500 100 watt brick/Z Controller combo I can use. My questions are:
1) What gauge of wire should I be using from my transformer to my barrier strips and from my barrier strips to the tracks? I noticed Atlas sells both 16 and 20 gauge. I think I used 22 gauge solid wire which might have been my big mistake.
2) I was going to run power wires to 4 points of each loop and also to each of the three spurs. Overkill? Too little?
3) I'd like to be able to run two trains since I have two transformers. My understanding of block wiring is that I need to create a break where the inner and outer loops connect so power from one transformer doesn't meet power from the other. What happens when a locomotive goes from the outer loop to the inner loop? At some point one pick up roller on the engine would be getting power from one transformer and the other roller would be getting power from the other transformer. Wouldn't that cause a problem?
