In the dim and distant...

[Zogbert Splod]

I seem to remember that train sets could be run with a controller that had two wires connected to the tracks. You twiddled the knob and the train went off on its merry way. Then you twiddled it the other way and it went backwards. **insert sound of heavy sigh**
My little layout, 4ft X 2.5ft, has already 'eaten' around 50yds of wire between the baseboard and building the associated electronics boxes, and it ain't more than 3/4 wired yet.
I have a book somewhere that says that DCC does it all with two wires. Hmmmmm, **insert sound of head scratching** Wonder if I should have done it that way...
Still got another switchie box to finish off too, along with the associated indicator panel. That one is gonna have a computer in it and I haven't even started writing the software yet. **insert sound of heavy sigh again**
And the whole point of this, way back at the start, was that I fancied trying my hand at constructing a few building models and it seemed like a good idea to give them a place to be...
Darn it!!! I think I'm hooked..... 

[NeMo]

You still can run a layout with just two wires to each track. But what you don't get is the near 100% reliability many hobbyists strive for.

Put another way, all the faff over electrical supplies to every piece of track (using old school DC at least) is simply about avoiding the hand-of-God approach where you give a reluctant loco a nudge if it stalls over a bit of pointwork. If you don't mind doing that, then I reckon you can keep the electrics very simple indeed. In fact Kato Unitrack invites you to do so!

Cheers, NeMo

[Zogbert Splod]

You are dead right NeMo, spot on.  I think I am just having a winge for the sake of it.  I have put more into this project than it strictly needs.  I would like to think that it may not be my one and only layout, so I have been using it as an experimental exercise, and will continue to do so.
I opened this thread slightly tongue in cheek but, at the same time, slightly suffering from a bit of a backache from leaning over my work table making up a wiring harness.  Got back at it after making the post and finished it though.  Dunno when it'll get fitted, but it's finished.

Thanks for your post.
Regards, Allan.....

[Malc]

There are only 2 wires going to my layout Allan. They do connect to a bus under the board and that has droppers from several sections of track. I didn't connect every piece, just in between points, any wherever I could be bothered to solder the wires to the uni joiners (I use kato track)

[Zogbert Splod]

There are only 2 wires going to my layout...

Well, yah-boo-sucks to you! (he said, with a sly grin)  Still got a way to go here but I already have 25 wires going to the board from the off board switches and controllers.  And I ain't even finished wiring the points yet!
I admit, much of the work is of my own making because I am keeping all of the electronics off the board.  As I said in the early days back in the planning thread, I do have plans to automate a lot of this.  I would like to end up with the reasonably conventional system that I am building right now with all of it off board but connecting through one or two multi-pin connectors. Then the facility would be there to plug in a 'black box' instead, so that it would be able to do its own thing with no one driving.  If you think about it, designing a program to make that work would just be a shunting puzzle in a sense.  But that's a bit ahead still...
Now, don't get me started on that Kazoo track stuff!  (although I am thinking about using some of it in a cassette experiment that I am planning - can I have it delivered in a plain brown wrapper?).....

[sparky]

My DCC layout is quite large at 16ft by 10ft 6in with 3 power zones and a points bus to run 4 main lines....right from day one I thought I would err on the safe side with droppers adding pairs at almost every join of flexi and at every point and siding but wanted to keep it easy so I used the prewired pairs of fishplates fitted with 16/2 wire from Andy Griffiths on EBay...on a large layout they add a bit of expense but not a huge amount but it was just as easy to use fishplates with droppers at each join as not with simply drilling 1mm holes for the wires as I went along...again to keep things easy I then connected all droppers to my 4 sets of 32/2 bus wires with suitcase blocks which have worked a treat..I have my layout in my garage and have never had a dead section and get a good DCC signal....so I sort of went a middle ground...plenty of wire but easy to do.To be honest my biggest chore with DCC is keeping the track clean but I use a CMXN for that.

[NeMo]

My DCC layout is quite large at 16ft by 10ft 6in with 3 power zones and a points bus to run 4 main lines....right from day one I thought I would err on the safe side with droppers adding pairs at almost every join of flexi and at every point and siding but wanted to keep it easy so I used the prewired pairs of fishplates fitted with 16/2 wire from Andy Griffiths on EBay...on a large layout they add a bit of expense but not a huge amount but it was just as easy to use fishplates with droppers at each join as not with simply drilling 1mm holes for the wires as I went along...again to keep things easy I then connected all droppers to my 4 sets of 32/2 bus wires with suitcase blocks which have worked a treat..I have my layout in my garage and have never had a dead section and get a good DCC signal....so I sort of went a middle ground...plenty of wire but easy to do.To be honest my biggest chore with DCC is keeping the track clean but I use a CMXN for that.

And this is why I stick with DC! 

Seriously though, I'm sure a lot of people enjoy the challenge of wiring something in such a way that it works perfectly every time. I just like playing trains, watching them go round and around in circles, and for that, the simplicity of DC works just fine. On the other hand, I do grind my teeth when tetchy locos hesitate for some reason and need me to give them the 1:148 equivalent of a kick up the backside!

Cheers, NeMo

[Newportnobby]

Much of the problemfun with DC is that the 2 wires which normally go the rails for a simple oval end up going through a multitude of switches for various sections etc and quickly become a veritable rats nest of multi coloured spaghetti. By the time you add in point motor wiring, maybe lighting and few other odds & sods it's almost time for that one way trip to Switzerland

[sparky]

That's definitely an advantage with DCC... No need for isolation sections etc..and all my points are controlled from my cab with wires only going from the point motors to the point motor bus...6 inch Max droppers...

[EssexN]

I know what you mean, a bottomless pit of cable

[smg id=27991 type=preview align=center caption="DSCF1590a"]

David

[Bealman]

[smg id=4628 type=preview align=center width=400]

[D1042 Western Princess]

Put another way, all the faff over electrical supplies to every piece of track (using old school DC at least) is simply about avoiding the hand-of-God approach where you give a reluctant loco a nudge if it stalls over a bit of pointwork.

Cheers, NeMo

Alternatively you could always try the other, more prototypical, way.
Find a light engine from somewhere, fire it up, run it out to the failure, couple up and drag the offending diesel electric (it would NEVER be a Diesel Hydraulic that let you down, would it  ) clear of the place where it 'broke down' and naturally, in seconds, the victim would be working again.

Or, of course, you could just touch it, as you suggested in the first place.

[PLD]

Think of it this way...

You can still use just two wires...

However each extra wire you add means either you can run another loco at the same time, or powers an extra piece of track or allows another manoeuvre to take place.

Therefore more wires ultimately means more fun! 

[sparky]

"More wires more fun"... Like it !

[D1042 Western Princess]

"More wires more fun"... Like it !

  Not necessarily. The more wires, the more complex, the more to go wrong, the longer it takes to solve the problem, the greater the frustration, the more inclined to ditch the hobby ...... need I go on?

I'm reminded of something an old signalling technician I used to know on the railway said - "In semaphore days it took minutes to find a fault and hours to repair it but now things are different. It takes hours to trace a fault and minutes to repair it".

The trouble is, if you don't have the electrical skills, and many don't, more wires can mean more troubles.