Feeders on Tubular Track: One Wire or Two?

I always add both positive and negative wires to my power feeds for my track. Tubular track can have drop outs where you least expect one. Usually best to use newer track then old rusty tracks.

I have tried several track systems and I am staying with O gauge tubular track.

Lee Fritz

Always install them in pairs.  Electricity works by flowing.  There has to be an "in" and an "out".  The center rail is the "in", and the outer rails are an "out".  I have found that almost all of my power issues on my carpet layouts have been due to poor connections and lack of feeds on the outer rail, never a center rail power issue.

JTrains posted:

I’ve got a floor layout with about 150’ of tubular O track of various vintages, so it definitely benefits from various feeders to the farthest places in the layout.  I’ve always only run one feeder wire (for the center rail), figuring that the outer rails have an almost infinite number of ways for current to reach them.  I reason that between the two rails, axles, and the hundreds of cross-connected ties, electricity will find its most-efficient way there (or back).  However, I’m curious: do others run pairs of feeder wires?  And has anyone noticed a real before-n-after difference when they added a feeder for the outside rails?  I’ve done some limited testing and haven’t noticed any real difference, but my testing may have been flawed.

You are correct: with traditional 3-rail track there is less need for additional feeders to the running rails because there are two of them tied together, so that circuit theoretically has half the resistance of the center rail circuit. I maintain that additional feed wires are usually unnecessary for conventional 3-rail (on all but the largest layouts) if high-resistance rail joints are identified and fixed. But most guys find it easier to add feeders.

I add an outside rail feeder any place I have a center rail feeder. A piece of copper wire is always going to conduct electricity better than Lionel track with all those joints. Each joint has to be adding some resistance.

isn't an outside return required if using DCS?