Knowing the basic principles of wiring will help you better understand and plan your layout and its cool effects! We'll go over the various gauge of wire and it's proffered applications.

Toping the List of Basic Wire or Whats Known as an.... Industry Standard

Copper remains the most common used raw material for wire. In addition understanding that wire is broken down or categorized into three distinct areas...

1. Width of Wire

2. Normal Wire

3. and lastly, Solid Wire

The larger gauge of wire, the more electricity it can conduct. The American Wire Gauge (AWG) can sometimes confuse people because the larger the gauge the smaller the wire. To demonstrate, 14AWG is a better choice to handle large electric currents than a 22AWG.

When in doubt as to which gauge is good for your particular layout, the general rule of thumb is to choose a larger size as a smaller gauge will restrict the amount of current allowed through your wire. In other words, It's better to have to much potential than not enough! Wires that are to small will cause power losses through your layout.

Most model train enthusiast set in the US set up their layouts incorporating 110volt household outlets. This voltage amount is best suited to be piggybacked by 12 or 14 gauge wire. Either of these gauges should be used as your power supply wires as they obviously have a larger voltage capacity.

A 20 or 22 gauge wire is okay to connect track feeders as long as the distance between them isn't more than say, ten to thirty feet. Lower gauge wires lose electricity along distances so if the space between them is large, it may not have the power it needs at the destination junction.

Solid wire is denoted by a single solid cooper line which is insulated underneath a color-coded wire insolent. This wire can be found in many different gauges and as we mention previously, is most efficiently suited for almost all functions in your layout, depending, of course, on the gauge.

Don't think standard wire is useless as it is without question your best choice for flexibility. I find that hard ware stores are the best place to go for quality wire. Radio Shack also has a beep selection of electronic wiring for use in your model train layout.

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