The Unsolved T-TRAK Puzzle

Before I wrote this post, I did a quick check of existing T-TRAK standards to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and as far as I can tell, there's no good answer to a basic question: the electrical connections between T-TRAK modules on a layout of any size (typically more than one table or loop) use 12-gauge wire that lies in the trough between two rows of modules. But 12-gauge wire is pretty thick. How do you run the connection from either a DC power pack or DCC command station from the outside of the loop, presumably 12-gauge wire, to the connections to individual modules in the trough?

No T-TRAK standard I've seen gives any insight into this. T-TRAK modules have no provision themselves to run any wire, much less 12 gauge, from the outside of the loop to the inside, and no provision for any sort of gap between modules to allow it, either

In my case, my T-TRAK modules are primarily for home use and are all, accordimng to T-TRAK terminology, "non-conforming modules" in any case, since for starters I use BWBW wiring. (Some of my modules can switch to BWWB via a DPDT switch on the back of the module if I ever wind up taking them to a meet).

Originally I set up a T-TRAK module with an NCE PCP Power Cab panel set into the front. This would allow me simply to transfer my Power Cab from my main HO layout to my home T-TRAK loop. I got around the need to pass the power cord into the module by simply drilling a hole for it in the front of a module. There are holes in the rear of standard modules that allow a power cord or bus wire that's gotten in from the front to pass out of the module to other modules via the inner trough.

However, one problem that began to present itself was that the front of a T-TRAK module is too small for a normal throttle pocket, and there's noplace else to set the Power Cab down except on the layout itself, which is never a good idea.

While my main HO layout is designed with peninsulas and fascias with throttle pockets and set up for walk-around operations, I have a few smaller projects like the home T-TRAK loop that aren't. You can squeeze an NCE PCP for a Power Cab onto a T-TRAK module, but other styles of mini layout are impossible with this. So I bit the bullet and got a Digitrax DCS 52, which is set up more like an old style DC power pack that can be connected and disconnected to a simple terminal strip.

Here is one of my home T-TRAK modules where I added a terminal strip on the front fascia connected to a terminal strip inside the module that represents the DCC bus. This way I can connect and disconnect a command station to the T-TRAK loop without the problem of what to do with the Power Cab when I'm not holding it, but I can just as easily connect it to other mini layout projects without worrying about how to accommodate a PCP for the Power Cab -- all I need is a terminal strip.

Although T-TRAK standards recommend Digitrax architecture for DCC, they still don't really specify how to get a 12 gauge DCC bus inside the loop from the outside. So this is just another way in which my modules are "non-conforming".