Juicing the Layout

One of the first things I noticed with this layout when I got it, was the generally poor condition of the layout wiring.  Substandard wiring, reliance on rail joiner feeders in totally inadequate quanities, and haphazard design, all led to the quick decision, it would be best to start again from scratch.

So I tapped into the wire supply I had on hand for my Somerset project.  12 gage buss wire and 20 gage feeders would once again be standard.  One very important factor to keep in mind is correctly color coding the buss and feeders.  I had white and black wire on hand.  White was designated for the rail closest to the edge of the benchwork, black closer to the back.

Installing a feeder in the yard. 

Typical feeder bundle connected to the buss. 

 Another view.

 

The secondhand layout came with a few Miniatronics boards shown above.  Typically I prefer soldered connections over mechanical connections, but since these were on hand, I decided to give them a try.  My opinion is that they worked out well, but I'd have a hard time justifying the expense in the future, over the essentially free option of soldering the connections.