I am 86 and new at Marklin trains. I have built a layout frame that measures approximately 11' x 12'. The top is 3/8" plywood over a 1x4 frame. So far, so good. I am laying track now and need to run wiring to the control point. I know that most modelers run their wiring BELOW the top, but due to my advanced age, it would be next to impossible for me to do so (bad back, weak knees, etc). My thought is to run all wiring on TOP of the layout, so I can make up all electrical connections without having to go under the bench. Has anyone else done this? I would have to hide the wiring somehow. What would be a good way to do this. I will be using a #14 gage wire as a buss to connect track wires to; any ideas? I also need to run wiring for turnouts and other controls and need to hide this wiring.

Thank you for your response. My wife is doing much better. She is up and walking better. Looking back at others dealing with old age, I feel so thankful for my longtime interest in trains. That has kept me alive so far. I know that others without a consuming interest in something/anything, are in danger of a short life without something to occupy their mind. Model railroading certainly fills that void. Off course, I have other interests that I am passionate about (music being one of them) and that keeps me occupied and not dwelling on old age and it's problems. I don't know how old you are, but I know model railroading will serve you well as you get older.

I will be pursuing the above-the-top wiring and solve problems as they appear. My entire life has been one of solving problems, so I am confident that I will work out any problems that crop up.

If I have to put a wire from the far some of the layout to a control on the other side I attach something to the end of the wire and just throw under the layout form one side to the other. Hedges are very good for hiding wire. I am 79 and clearly not as fit as yourself so well done.

One idea is to embed plastic tubes in the landscape, to run the wires through. You can have a mesh of tubes and have connection points that you hide e.g. under houses. I haven't tested exactly this, but I have run some of the wiring through plastic tubes in the two layouts I have built so far.

Regards
Per

Hello Mr. Ron,

In preparation for when I will have limited mobility, wire access has been an important consideration for the modular layout furniture I am building. A primary design principle is that all wire runs are along the front edge of the furniture where I will be able to access them easily, from a seated position. Only final runs from the edge to the track or an accessory violate this rule. A corollary to this principle is that visible, easily accessible, clean, well organized wiring and digital components (decoders, braking modules, etc.) are a desirable feature. So both are displayed prominently on the layout's front edge, just below the layout's top (scenery) level.

Recently I have adopted a few new wiring ideas that may also be helpful. The first is 3M Command brand wire clips. Normally used for outdoor holiday lights, they work extremely well on model railroad bench work. The "Command" strips stick quite well to wood and can be easily removed if you wish to reposition a clip. 3M even gives you extra strips, just for this eventuality.

Next, is silicon insulated wires. After years of resistance, I finally ordered some 18 Gauge silicon hook up wire for the main bus of our Christmas layout. It's now a standard and I'm never going back. BTW, thank you to the forum member who pointed out that 18 gauge is the thickest wire that still can be used with Märklin plugs and sockets.

Finally, for my wife's new living room N Scale shelf layout I have adopted a concept from Woodland Scenics. (Yes, beautiful wife actually decided she wants to build a small layout of her own ... so I gave her a MiniTrix MS2 Starter set for her recent birthday and the 2-6-0 New York Central DCC steam lok she picked out arrived two days ago!) I mounted her track on top of Styrofoam risers. This makes it easy to lay wires on top of her shelf, that can pass cleanly under track without causing problems. The wires can be hidden under scenery modules also mounted on Stryofoam (she's already working on her first one!).

I hope you find some of these ideas useful. Best of luck with your layout build.

I totally agree with Michel and this approach reflects somewhat my layout. I am 70 years old – of rather large frame - and during the past three years have had both knees replaced. This means I can walk, cycle and swim as desired but kneeling, squatting and bending down can be more than troublesome. Some time ago after negotiation with management the Railway layout was moved from a small spare bedroom to the dining room which is much bigger. However, one condition was that the large dining table remained and must not be abused. So now I have a ten foot by ten foot L shaped layout, more than half of which sits on a plywood “box “ on the table , so no access underneath the layout. It fits into the corner of the room, so access is “difficult” in the far corners. I think I spend half my railway time on Scarm and the other half on the layout- so things change frequently as a new idea is tried out. So my layout is green covered wood with some nominal buildings – the station, the engine shed, the goods shed simply placed on the layout. Almost all recent expansion has been with 24802 set which comprise two turnouts and some useful track usually obtainable at quite a good price. So, the turnouts are factory fitted with decoder motor and track power connected. Am a small aside I have never touch wood had a single problem with any of this unlike the infamous 74492 etc problems. I have also recently started to buy the latest digital signals which are wired into the track for power. I still have some kit run in fours to K83 and M83 but I wire these in a cluster and take the track power nearby. So my central station is wired simply once to the track. The only thing that can’t fit this is contact tracks and single wires to an S88

Looking over Mr. Ron's previous posts I suspect that he is running analog not digital.

I agree running the bus wires along the front/back and then connecting to them is the way to go...

I have been using these for about 20 years and thoroughly recommend them:

https://cabin-layout.mixmox.com/2002/02/wiring-track-feeds-to-bus-wires.html

I don't do any soldering upside down in a poorly lit place.

Another thing (which you probably already know) is that it'll probably take a long while of practicing and experimenting before you decide on how the layout should be. So it could be a good idea to keep the wires on top of the baseboard in the beginning.
You can also get wires with for example three or two wires in the same cable which will reduce the clutter on, or under, the table. One example is Brawa 3172 (google it). I don't know what's needed for analog operation... and what's easily available in the USA.

Running them within the track base is going to get frustrating extremely quickly.
As telegraph wires also to my mind seems v tedious also.
You could run them alongside the track back to a signal box see Dale’s excellent website for what I mean https://cabin-layout.mix...le-ducts-Kabelkanal.html then from the signal box route them under a road or something back to your control centre. Maybe from a central point like signal tower you could connect to ribbon cable which would lie flat and tidy.
You’re going to have to use some imagination but at the same time if it sounds too complicated then it probably is, no right or wrong answers do what you feel is right.
You can always have the infill between tracks as very shallow hills or lift out panels so your wires are on top of the baseboard but under your scenery.

I did some calculations and find that I need around 825' of 2 conductor wire to wire up 17 turnouts. Does this sound like a reasonable amount of wire for a layout measuring roughly 11'x12'? That will cost a good amount of money. The only way I can cut down wiring is to place the turnout control close to the turnout away from the control panel.

My layout is an around the room with a peninsular jutting into the middle of the room. Wires from the 17 turnouts have to follow the benchwork around the room to a control position. This places all the 7072 control boxes at the same place with the transformer. I will go back and review my wiring schematic.

I checked again, more closely and came up with a total of 534' of single conductor or 267' red and 267' green. I already ordered 500' each of #22 red and green stranded wire. That should be enough. BTW, the yellow wire from each turnout will tie into a common buss wire, co I don't need long runs.