I have been collecting Marklin trains and tracks (M) for many years. I have all the turnouts and switches. I have got my layout board cut out. I am ready to do the electrical but don't know how to begin. Can someone recommend a beginners book in english?. Or give some suggestions. thanks.

Hi Lorene, welcome to the marklin-users.net forum. I hope you will find some answers here...

Well, as Peter says, it would be easier to know if you told us if you were planning to run a "conventional" layout or a digital layout. It would also be of help if you could tell us what kind of control boxes and such you have planned to use, if you want to use signals, the size of the layout, number of trains simultaneously run, number of turnouts etc...

But I'll take a shot at explaining the very basics.

If running conventional, then the basics are:

For the track itself, "train power":
Red wire from transformer goes to the centre stud rail, brown to the metal base of the M-track. If you have several transformers, you connect each to a "section" of the layout, sectioning of the track is made by isolating the centre stud rail joints with a piece of paper, plastic or such. This means you have one transformer for each section and the speed setting of the transformer connected to the section is what controls the speed of any train in that section.

For accessories like lights and such:
Yellow wire from transformer to the accessory, the return wire from accessories to "brown". On-off switching can be done with the Märklin switch-box with yellow and green buttons, or any contact switch with fixed on-off positions.

For turnout operation:
Yellow wire to the turnout connected to the yellow transformer output. The blue wires (with red & green plugs) are momentarily connected to ground (brown) to switch the turnout from one position to the other. This can be done with the Märklin switch-box with momentary contacts (red & green buttons on it) or any type of momentary contact. A momentary contact can be a button that you press and release, a contact track or a reed contact that the trains themselves trigger or anything else that is not in a fixed "on" or "off" position... You can easily test turnouts by just connecting the yellow wire to the transformer, and then take the red or green plug of the turnout and just touch it to a rail of the M-track.

Signals:
Signals are controlled/connected the same way as turnouts with momentary contacts, but usually also have an extra "red" wire input & output to control a small piece of an isolated track section front of the signal with either "power" or "no power" to that track section. This means that the power to the signal track section is cut when the signal shows "red", and power is fed to the section if it is "green". That red cable input is connected to the centre stud track just outside the signal track section where the "red power" is on...

Turnouts and signals are really "bistable relays", which get a push in the right direction by momentarily shorting "yellow" to "brown". You can also have additional relays of the same type to switch on/off whatever you want by the same principle as turnouts & signals in case you want to control things by the running trains.

More intricate wiring schemes are mainly variations and extensions of the mentioned principles, and can get as complex as you wish...<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

One thing to keep in mind is to have a common ground for everything, i e. all brown cables should be interconnected. It may also be wise to use "fatter" cables, esp for the ground (brown) if you have several transformers used on the layout.

And be on alert for shorts on the layout, sometimes you just "happen" to connect "red wires" or "yellow wires" directly to "brown" even if it is not intentional.... Has happened to me sometimes... <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>
So keep your main wiring color-coded with red, yellow and brown and don't be "smart" to e g use a red cable for ground connection just because you have run out of brown cables... And/Or label them properly, it will save you a lot of frustration while looking for "that cable that should go to that thingy"...

You should also think about feeding "red" and "brown" to the tracks in several places along the track, since the M-track has some resistance in the track joints. Every 2m is a kind of recommended value, but not a definite rule, so if you get by with e g every 5m that is ok too...

Hi Alonso...
What do you mean by "electric mechanisms" ? If you mean the wiring, it is the same, electrically, whatever Märklin track & accessories you use... It's all in the "system", so to speak... The track itself is just the carrier and does not theoretically differ on which Märklin tracks (M, K or C) you use...

thanks for all the good suggestions I have received. I am running analog. In re: to having my loks converted to digital, at $100 a pop, I really can't invest that much into conversion as I have 14 loks. I started collecing many years ago with the SET series. I got a layout from an old Marklin catalogue and started buying all the necessary parts for its construction. My layout is 12ft longx 4 ft wide. all my parts are Marklin and all new, never been used even by me but they are over 10 to 15 years old. I have 10 turnouts, 6-7072 control boxeds (red & green buttons), 4-7209-all metal with no buttons, 1-7210 red & yellow buttons, 9 various signals 7039, 7040, 7041, 7042, 4 transformers 2-30VA, 1-16 VA, and 1-10VA. The reason I include all this is someone requested this info. I would like to run 3 loks at one time; but more importantly I would like to all the turnouts and switches as they were designed to be run. thanks for the help. Lorene

More...
if the signals have the base plate still with them, they should be used to connect them to the track, and the lights will get their grounding through them.

The box with red and yellow buttons could be used to switch power to different lamps, but a better use since you have so many locos, is to have sidings for locos, which are isolated and connected with red cables to this box. The side of the box is connected to the red of the transformer controlling the sections outside the sidings.

/Lars

Someone on this web site recommended Carl Weaver's book. In it it says to lay a copper wire around the underside of the layout and run all grounds to it. Question: I have done this but how do you connect both ends of the loop together? Twist them? Tie them together with plastic? Solder them? many thanks for your patience.

on a Marklin 6627 Transformer, it has 4 inlets one yellow, one red, and 2 brown. What are the 2 brown for? I know that one of them is for ground but what about the other? thanks

Lorene,
yes, the browns are internally connected together, so you can use any of them, or both. I guess that the Märklins idea was to use one to connect the brown of the track together with the red cable, and the other to the switchbox for the turnouts, together with the yellow cable. But in my head it just causes confusion.

/Lars

am in the process of installing remaining turnouts for my layout. Problem: The wires from turnouts and signals are never long enough to reach the 7072 control box. Therefore, I have to add more wire and a male & female plug between the 2 wires to reach the box. Consequently, I am running out of plugs. Question: can I solder the 2 wires together? Is it safe to leave a soldered joint visible between 2 insulated wires? Is this the best answer? Or do I need to buy more plugs? thanks, Lorene

hi all
i saw on a webpage a book that is called
Greenberg's layout building handbook for operators...
any comments?

why this book is so expensive?

When soldering wires, you might want to use 'heat shrink tubing'. You can order if from http://www.railtronics.com/ in various sizezs. The size of tubing you need would be based on how large your wire and solder joint are.

How this works:
1. before you solder, slide a section of tubing over one wire.
2. make the solder joint
3. after the joint has cooled, slide the tubing over the solder joint.
4. use your wife's hair drier to blow hot air on the tubing. As the tubing gets hot, it shrinks to half size.

This makes a very professional looking joint, and will not fall off. The tubing comes in various colors and sizes. For Marklin type wire, you might need 3/32" or 1/16".

Hi all,
Instead of heat shrink tubing,I use liquid electrical tape
http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/82216.html.Much easier to use,IMHO and cheaper that the tape.I have done 2 ETE modules,a friends E-lok service facility,and my layout with one can(!)<img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

I also a agree with Thanos about plugs,they do come in handy when testing new equipment and easy to unplug, say fron a decoder to replace a signal,etc,....


Kevin!

Moderator,Märklin Bar&Grill

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarklinBandG/