@Mannyrock posted:I wonder if the gauge of the power wires running to the track have any effect on the general rule. I just use 18 gauge wire, so I have a connection about every 6 sections. I seem to have no problems at all with power in the track and larger engines will run at full speed around the layout.
Where I have seen power issues is if I have an turnout, following by a short stretch of maybe 3 sections, followed by another turnout. I almost always get sluggish running on that short section between the turnouts. So, it is a bit of a pain, but I always run a set of power lines to those short sections, which solves the problem.
It is tedious to run power wires to different parts of the track, but my general policy is that you just can't have enough of them. And, once you have installed all of them, you are done. Hopefully, you never have to do that again.
Always build one step above whatever the Code" or General Rule is. It costs about 5% more, but you will never regret it. :-)
Mannyrock
Two your point about short sections of track with switches at each end:
In my outer loop, there are two sets of crossover switches, between which is a relatively shore portion of track, and those switches and track are one single power block with a connection right in the middle.
The rest of that loop is divided into two power blocks of approx. 14 ft, each with approx. 10 joints.
