Mannyrock,
At the end of a star run where a drop comes down through the subroadbed I will trim the insulation, usually tape the two wires together with the bare ends lined up, then using a electrical crimp end I join the two ends. I always allow some extra wire for possible need to lift the track for whatever track or turnout adjustment.
When I use solid wire for my drops I wrap the extra length around a thin tube for a compact surplus.
The wires in the following photos all come from a local panel. The star feeds are each switched and are 14 ga averaging 15' in length. The drops are all 20 ga.
Below is an example of a 2' X 16' staging yard with a second level decking hinged up:
Ends are taped, crimped and clamped
Note the color tape and numerical bands coding the circuits.
The angled 2 x 4 braces are to hold the decks up for service. The white tape holds the wires into a routed out slot for clearing the cross braces.
The wire loom under the cross members runs horizontal for a short distance in loose clamps to accommodate the deck raising via a torsional movement of the wires.
