How to Build a Model Railroad Control Circuit
If you are building a model railroad landscape, one thing you are looking forward to is watching your train running on the track. After the railroad equipment, the next important aspect a builder needs is a power source. Buying a transformer and setting it to the track is the most technical part of your model railroad.
- Look for a transformer and control circuit at the local hobby shop. Plug the transformer into any standard electrical outlet. This converts the power to a lower voltage, usually 12 to 16 volts for the train.
- Cut lengths of low voltage wire to go from the transformer to the track to the control circuitboard. Use red wires for positive wire and black wires for negative wire. Serious modelers hide the wire connections and keep them neat and bundled. Label them so you know which wires are connected to what. You may want to consider soldering wires to the sides of the track. Be careful not to let the wire or solder get on the top of the track. This interferes with how the train runs.
- Wires are connected to each of the two rails, the positive and the negative. Make sure you connect them correctly, and that the track pieces have been connected with metal connectors. This allows the electrical current to carry on from one section to the next. Isolating particular sections of track can be done by using plastic connectors instead of metal, and passing the wires through a simple electrical switch.
- Test the system to make sure everything is working correctly.