I have the Lionel ZW-L. And when looking to wire my future layout, I was wondering, since the common posts are all tied together, is there any reason I need/want to run 4 separate wires (1 for each common post) or could I just run out 1 from the transformer and separate it later when needed? You end up with a lot of wires coming out the back, could be simpler to run 1 and split later as needed.
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Well, one reason would be that the 600 watts or so would be all sharing one common line. That's over 20 amps of current on the single ground return. I'd run at least a couple if you plan on using anything close to the capacity of the transformer.
John,
If they're still going to a shared ground within the transformer, does running multiple ground wires to the 4 U posts really help things?
Just asking as I normally run all of my 18g ground feeders to a single 14g stranded spine connected to just one of the U posts.
Thanks,
Mike
Think about the voltage drop internally in a 6 inch wire and the voltage drop externally over a 30 foot wire. 
The determining factor would be how far that current has to travel. I just plugged the numbers into a wire size calculator. If you want to limit the voltage drop to around 1 volt for 20 amps at 20 feet, you'd need #10 wire.
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