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| | North Pacific Coast Garden Railroad
Electrical Infrastructure
This is a radio controlled battery powered layout. So there is no need
to deal with laying wiring for track. But there are two separate
electrical projects:
 | Landscape Lighting - The patio and walkway will be lit by low voltage
landscape lights. I bought the lights for this project about four
years ago on close out. They fit in well with a railroad setting.
There is a sufficient quantity to cover the patio and walkway. At this
point I'm inclined to use solar power for both structures and for landscape
lighting off the patio. However, I'm keeping my options open here and the
other electrical project will provide sufficient power should I change my
mind. |
| 120 Volt AC - I plan to run four 20A circuits into my back yard to cover
the household power needs of the layout. In addition, I want to
replace a buried line that goes to the lamp pole by the pond. That
line is buried very near the surface following an undocumented path.
It provides a switched feed for the light and a line feeding an outside
outlet box at the light pole. With the switched line, I'll be carrying
five hot lines out of the house, one switched and the other four lines hot
full time. Here are the envisioned uses of the circuits.
 | Circuit 1 - Top of the layout. This circuit will provide power
to the landscape lighting transformer, a lift pump from the lower
holding pond in the upper water feature, and outlets at the back of the
house, the front of the patio and in the area of the lower tunnel.
This circuit will be fed by a 12-2 outdoor rated cable. |
| Circuit 2 - Light pole in front of the pond. This circuit will
provide power to a lift pump for Austin Creek, a water feature, a second
water feature in the Russian River area, and for accessory outlets from
the light pole around the right side of the pond. This circuit
will be fed by a 12-3 outdoor rated cable. The red line in this
cable will be the switched line for the light on the light pole. |
| Circuit 3 - This line will go left from the bottom of the staircase
and provide power for one and possibly two streams that dump into the
left side of the pond. It will also provide accessory outlets for
the left side of the pond. This circuit will be fed by the black
line in a 12-3 outdoor rated cable. |
| Circuit 4 - This line will accompany circuit 3 but is reserved for a
cottage structure constructed in 1:1 scale at the left side of the pond.
This 'cottage' is likely to be a replica of a NPC depot constructed at
some scale reduction from the prototype. |
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Project Phases
This project will be a continuing project as the railroad is built. So
it will be completed in phases:
| Phase 1 - This is an immediate project. In this project all five
lines will be run from the basement through the outside wall and along the
staircase to the light pole. This project must be complete before
trenches can be filled and weed barrier put down. |
| Phase 2 - Installation of low voltage landscape lighting. This
project is lower in priority than Phase 1. But it needs to be
completed this fall. At this point there is an unlit hazard in the
middle of my back yard. Lighting would make it safer. |
| Additional Phases - Will be scheduled as the portion of the layout
surrounding the pond goes under construction. |
Phase 1 Materials
| 250' 12-3 underground sheathed cable. The price will take your
breath away - or it won't depending on whether you've priced track recently.
Both have copper. My cable cost around $175. |
| 100' 12-2 underground sheathed cable. Price was around $50. |
| Grey 1" Schedule 80 PVC Conduit - Yes, I could have just buried cable.
But unprotected electrical lines in a garden make me very nervous. So
I spent around $50 for the protection for Phase 1. After pulling 3
cables through this stuff, I wish I had gone with 1 1/2 inch. |
| Miscellaneous Electrical - This includes GFI outlets, regular outlets,
PVC adhesive, and PVC joiners and electrical boxes. I fugure I'll have
$100 invested. |
That would indicate phase 1 electrical will come in around $375. But I
expect to have cable and some PVC components left over for the additional
phases.
Phase 1 Construction
I'm not going to explain how to do electrical work. There are books on
the subject at your building supply store and it will be their liability, not
mine if you have an unpleasant encounter with a live wire or incinerate your
house. While I'm not an electrician, I have substantial experience with
wiring.
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This is the outside portion of the installation. From the box
just below the Upper Circuit box, three cables run through the siding of
the house into the ceiling area of my basement. From there the
wires are pulled to a 4" metal box screwed to my ceiling rafters.
The wires stop at the metal box. At this point no power is
connected and won't be until the circuits are complete or stubbed off
and the wiring tested. The wire with the black tape coming into
the Upper Circuit box comes from the 4" box in the basement. The
other wire travels down the conduit. It is one of the three cables
emerging from the conduit at the bottom of the photo. |
The interior wire in the upper circuit box will be connected to a GFCI
outlet. From there power will travel to a second outlet in the same box
and down the conduit to two similar outlet boxes. While this photo shows
the lines emerging from the conduit, that is only because the conduit wires
haven't been pulled through the conduit runs.
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You can see the cable running across the mulch. Once encased
in the conduit, it will run through a trench right along side of the
walkway. Two outlet boxes will pop up. One will be off the
left of this photo at the front of the patio. The second will be
about two feet to the left of the tunnel opening. This second box
will feed the lift pump for the water feature that will end in this
area. |
This project is in process. Additional photos will be posted as it
moves toward completion.
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