I am going to be talking about doing this on a DCC system. DC is just a little different. So if you’re running a DC system, look for my other blog, “Blocking in DC.”
Adding blocks will do one big major thing for you. If you should get an electrical short that shuts down that block, it will not affect the rest of your layout. This means you can still run your trains in your other districts until you figure out what caused the short in the “dead” block.
On my layout, I created six different districts. Each district has its own fuse to protect engines and anything else electrical in that block.
Blocks or districts are easy to create, but the best way to do it is by creating them as you lay down track.
In order for you to understand how to create districts, you need to understand how they operate.
When a train is traveling down a main line (we’ll call this District 1) and you throw a switch so it now travels from the main line (D1) to a secondary line (we’ll call this District 2), your train has entered a different district. If everything is done right, you won’t even know the train is in a different district. There is no hesitation, no stoppage, just a continued journey along the layout.
Now, in order for a district to work, you need to do two different things when laying the track and running power to it.
The first thing, right at the very beginning of your district, YOU MUST ISOLATE BOTH RAILS using plastic rail joiners instead of the metal ones. If you are soldering your joints, DO NOT SOLDER THIS JOINT. What you are doing is supplying a separate power bus wire to this district. In other words, D1 will be supplied power from bus wire 1. D2 will be powered by bus wire 2. The plastic rail joiners will ensure that you are cutting off the power from D1 as D2 is now the power source. You will do the same thing again wherever you want D2 to end. You will ISOLATE BOTH RAILS. So each district you create will have a total of four plastic rail joiners to join to the other track.
By isolating both ends of the district, you have now created a mini layout with its own power.
Wiring the district is mostly the same as wiring the layout. You will still want to drop feeders every 12 to 24 inches. Make sure whichever rail was positive is still positive in the district you’re creating. The only difference in wiring up the new district is your bus wire. You need to have a separate bus wire coming from your controller, not the same bus wire going to your main line. You also need to clearly mark this new district bus wire using tape with the district number on it, so you don’t attach the feeders to the wrong bus wire.
Wiring the bus wires to the control board.
My other blog explained about bus wires and feeder wires, but what wasn’t explained was how the bus wire(s) are hooked up to the power source. So this is how you do that:
The easiest way is to have a 12 or 25 pole wire block mounted somewhere around your power module. I use an NCE system, and they call this module a PCP (Power Control Panel). Other DCC systems may have a different name, but I think you know what I mean. This is where the power from your house outlet comes into your control panel. From the PCP, you will have connected a positive and negative wire that essentially is now your bus wire.
Instead of running this wire straight to your layout, you are going to wire it to the plus side of the wire block and the minus to the minus side. Most wire blocks will come with red and black jumpers that will connect all the plus sides together and all the black minus sides together, so you won’t have to use jumper wires to get power to the next pole.
Your main line bus can be connected to the same terminal or pole as your PCP. Your newly created District 2 should be connected to the next terminal. So now you have two bus wires coming from your control panel running to your layout.
That’s it. It is that simple. What I didn’t mention was fuse protection.
There are different ways of doing this. You can buy a fuse module from your DCC manufacturer. NCE calls it an EB module, which consists of a 2 amp fuse, a port for two wires in, and a port for two wires out. Some modelers will connect a small light bulb. If there’s a short, the bulb will take the jolt and break connection with the district. Others just purchase a simple car fuse holder and place a 2 amp fuse in it. Whatever you decide, it is very important that you use some kind of fuse protection. You have, or are going to have, expensive equipment on your rails. Just one short could burn out your engine or damage the decoder in it.
The fuse should be placed right after the bus wire comes out from the wire block before heading to its destination.
Until next time.
Happy Railroading!