This question will demonstrate what an amateur I am. But I will ask the question anyway.
Track work has never been one of my stronger attributes (HO). I would love to see flextrack in six foot sections. Has this ever been available? This might help with those long stretches toward the back of the layout, the hard to reach areas, places that are mostly underground, etc. It might help in areas with no turnouts, etc. Yes I realize that it only takes 2 three foot sections. I do think that using the six footers in as many places as possible would improve my layout. Getting better at laying track would also help. The layout is only as good as the track work.
Solder rail connecters to two 3 foot sections on the workbench with a straight edge and that is what you have. How many ties you have to remove depends on how much curve you bend the six footer into. That is fact is what many of us do. Solder your flex track while it is straight.
Pre-assemble and solder 2 3-foot sections together and then install it/them. It wouldn’t be feasable to ship 6 ft sections. If you aren’t soldering your track sections together yet then it’s time to learn how. It’s a basic skill that needs to be learned. You can find a local club and have them show you how or get the Atlas or Kalmbach basic electricity book(s).
I have followed along reading on this site for 7 years. I have seen the topic of soldering your track sections to improve electrical continuity. I was in HO for a lot of years and I remember usoing fibre track. I have never soldered my track sections together and I don’t ever remember having a problem. I used 3 ft flex track and built some rather large layouts.
I am presently in G scale indoors and I don’t solder my track sections together. I am not trying to give anyone a hard time. I just see where it is necessary.
Doug, I hear you. But to be perfectly honest, as a former naysayer to those who urged/warned us to get into the habit of soldering at least every other pair of joiners, I have had my occasional failure at track joins (HO). I didn’t have it in EZ-Track, but neither did I weather those rails and joiners, and I didn’t use that layout more than about 12 months before I had to dismantle it. Now into my 18th month on my latest layout where my flextrack is all weathered (Floquil “Rust” and Polly Scale Railroad Tie Brown), I have had to slide a few joiners back and forth to restore metal-to-metal contact. In a case or two I bit the bullet and simply added solder to the mix. So, it seems that for many of us, the problem eventually crops up, and the long term solution seems to be what many of us pass on as the correction tip…solder the joiners.
After I wrote that I was thinking that I never took any of my layouts beyond the track laying and wiring stages. I never painted my rails or ballasted my track. So I would not have paint or a glue mixture creeping into my rail joints.
We moved 4 times during the first 33 years I was married and working. The past 8 years we have stayed in one place. In G scale I use #14 stranded copper wire to feed my blocks. My rail is 332 (LGB) and some say it is a better conductor than household wiring for as heavy as it is. I solder my connections to the bottom of my rail joiners. I use Atlas Selectors fo my block control. Which means I only insulate one rail. Maybe I am just lucky.
Besides being into HO I also do G gauge in the back yard. I use 6ft sections of aluminum made by Llagas Creek. I assemble the track using tie sets and 6ft rails, but I can also buy it assembled. A rail bender and I am in business.
As far as contraction, Kansas City is hot in the summer, but I use expansion gaps and have no problems at all with 6 ft. In fact, none of the railjoiners are soldered or connected other than a good crimp. Same with the Llagas Creek turnouts. I do use radio control/battery power, so I don’t worry about pickup outdoors.
If the object is to lay track in six foot lengths, solder the rail joiner on the one side:
Where the rail doesn’t slide. (If curved, lay the non-sliding rail to the outside.)
The outside of the curve if both rails can slide.
If the entire 6 feet is going to be tangent (railroadese for ‘straight’) solder both rail joiners.
Then, as you lay your 6-foot sections, leave breathing room at the end of each. Unless your layout space has absolute temperature and humidity uniformity 24/365, the gaps will open and close. It only takes a few thousandths of over-length to translate into a nasty heat buckle. Only lay your rail tight if the temperature is as high as it will ever get and the humidity is tickling zero. A 1mm gap in February becomes a .01mm gap in August - but it won’t be a problem as long as it doesn’t become a negative number.
One final item - electrical continuity. Never depend on unsoldered rail joiners to conduct locomotive power (and don’t be overly trusting of soldered joiners, either.) Either solder a drop to each and every rail or solder jumpers around every rail joiner. Since I run analog DC, I prefer the latter.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a Mojave Desert garage)
My HO scale layout consists of 240 yds. of much convoluted flex track, with 6 reverse loops,3 wyes, and 102 turnouts. I used insulated joiners on the four branch rail ends and then soldered wire jumpers across the joiners. One never has to rip up ballasted track, and one can snip the loops to add feeders to each side, if you need to insulate the tracks. Using soldered jumpers rather than soldering the joiners makes reuse of the track much easier, if at some later date you desire to rearrange trackage. It also takes care of the expansion … contraction problem. As Chuck said, … Never trust unsoldered joints, or even soldered joiners. Bob Hahn
Adding to my other comments, the HO layout is three decks, 28ft by 33ft. Very few rail joints are soldered, because I like to be able to remove a section for redoing without having to break solder joints. But I do have electrical drops on each section. The layout was started in 1988 and is “finished” and running well today.
I will admit that my railroad area is climate controlled and stays pretty much the same year round. That helps a lot. And as one poster noted, on the outdoor G gauge, the rail joiners are more robust, but I use code 250 rail on the garden railroad, so they are not as large as the 332 joiners.
Just to add my summary opinion here that I’ve come to after reading other sources and the discussions on this subject on several other threads here:
(1) Only solder joints on curves
(2) Don’t solder joints on straight track–this allows for expansion/contraction as discussed above
(3) Following #2 requires dropping feeders to all sections of flex-track: many feel this is over-kill, but I like the idea of having multiple feeders in case of the occassional failure, plus makes sense to not solder the straight sections and hence avoid the expansion/buckling issues as discussed.