You asked for pictures and here is the first picture of my yard. I you have suggestions, comments or whatever, please refer to the characters on the picture. [:D]
Is it ok to solder every rail joiner on the whole yard?
And where should I solder track feeders?
I also have a minor problem at the 2 red arrows. I want to move the (whatever it’s called) to the green arrow. Can I just cut it and make a new one at the other side of the turnout?
I really need help on this one.
Nice start, but watch the clearence between tracks,looks like you might have to trim #4switch through to clear #6 switch,The wireing will be fun!!
GOOD WORK
JIM
What ‘brand’ of turnouts are you using?
Jim
I’m using Walthers/Shinohara code 83.
o - I would not solder anything - I aways drop feeders. However, if you want to solder; solder the ladder turnouts and leave the long section of flex track(were the expansion is). Also short lengths of flex track can be soldered to the ladder or a full length section of flex track.
o - You will need to drop feeders at least at ‘A’ and ‘G’(see the next paragraph). I would also drop feeders on each section of flex track.
o - You will need ‘double’ gaps(insulated rail joiners) at location ‘N’ for switch ‘7’(and at the unmarked straight leg of that turnout as well.
o - As far as the throwbars and the ‘head block’ ties - trim and make new ones as needed.
Jim
Why not use a small straight section and gain the space you need instead of cutting on your switches? [;)]
IMHO I never found it necessity to solder rail joints nor have I found that one needs to have feeder wires on every section of track.
At red arrows, cut the throwbars off and put the switch stands on other side of turnout, easy fix. Are they DCC ready turnouts, if so no gapping is required. I would put at least 4 feeders in the area. Be careful soldering on those style of turnouts as the rails to tie connection is very delicate. It can be done though.
Besides a feeder to the frog, I attach one to the outside rails of every switch. Otherwise, you are relying on the joiners and they will surely loosen up with time. As a backup for the feeders, I solder every joiner, including turnouts. I’ve only had to tear out one in many, many years.
If you have a stable underlayment such as good old plywood, you will have no expansion issues. My layout is in a garage that often reaches 110+ degrees. I cool it down to 72 when I’m working on it. That’s a pretty wide temperature swing with no problems. In a basement or bedroom, there certainly should not be an expansion problem either. The only time I’ve heard of expansion problems has been with Homasote in high humidity.
John Timm
John Timm
Electro, avoid tampering with your switches if you can. As jbernier suggests, cut-to-fit a length of flextrack and separate your throw bars that way. By the way, you are sure, now, to find that you will have to make adjustments to your overall plan. DO NOT SWEAT! Just go away for a while and come back when you can deal with what changes you HAVE to make. Calm, friend. It will all go good in the end…trust us.
As for feeders, you can add them later if you have to. Some would say there are never enough/too many feeders. That may be true for some skill levels and some degrees of sophisitication, but feeders that cover 6-8’ of linear track, including switches, is lots. Again, you can always test for problems and solder on another feeder when the problem crops up. It is the way most of us get a road troubleshot and running. So, divide your yard and linear main into chunks, gap them, and put a feeder somewhere in the ‘geographical’ middle. If a section shows weak power (or none), then your solders are bad or you need another feeder someplace.
Yes I will cut the throwbars at the 2 places where I have the red arrow. Easy as you said. And when everything is ballasted it will look great.
I just forgot to tell, all my turnouts are DCC ready Walthers/Shinohara code 83. I just want to connect them and run.
Exactly, I will not use any gapping at all. Thanks.
The reason I can’t have a small straight section is because the yard is so tight. No room at all to do that, even if it’s a very small straight section. So I will cut them and place them on the other side. Will be easy to do.
BTW: The track at E will go to a turntable. Is there any easy solution on the market? I know that I can modify a Atlas tt, but is there any tt that are ready to use out of the box? And how do I place it on the foam, just cut a big whole or? [:D]
It’s unneccesaryy to solder every section of flex track. Solder a feeder to every other rail joiner and solder the rail joiner to the track on either side. This gives you a hard wired elctrical connection to all of your track w/ a SMALL gap at every other joint to provide some expansion/contraction.
What I did w/ my Shinohara switches involves a major rework but there are real advantages. I removed the metal connection between the points and made a new throw bar from circut board, with an electrical gap between points, and made another circut board tie at the other end of the points. Using dressmakers pins I made a pivot so the points move as a unit. The purpose of all this was to reduce the distance between the non-used point and its stock rail. This makes the points electricallly isolated. The bad news is you need something like a Tortoise switch machine w/ auxiliary contacts to power the frog but it also eliminates sometimes ify power routing through the points. Probably more trouble than you’re ready to take on and I’m not sure that I’d go through it again if I was starting out fresh, but, now that they’re done, I’m glad I’ve got them.
In my opinion, taking this approach means you prefer to leave your layout reliability to pure chance. Me, I prefer to stack the deck. [swg]
So I solder the point end rail joiners on turnouts, and run feeders to each 3-foot rail section. Come H-E-double hocky sticks or high water, the layout track will still be powered reliably, guaranteed.
I agree with Joe.
Just a word of precaution: I use Walthers Shinohara 83’s (many) and a very important thing is to be careful with the rail buss bars that are spot welded to the bottom of the rails. You do not want to trim the turnout so far back that a track joiner will pop the weld loose. Unfortunately, these welds are weak and can easily be popped loose by flexing or when you shove a rail joiner into it. Also: Use a meter to check continuity between the common rails before you install the turnouts. This will detect a broken weld before you have the agony of uninstalling.
REX
What do you mean by point end rail joiners? I know what a rail joiner is but where is the point end?
The point end is the end near the throwbar, next to the points. Sometime, when you get a chance, you can research the parts of a switch. Of course they have different names in different places [:)]
EL, the points are the short hinged rails that actually move, and the points of the points (if you understand me) have a separation bar under them, sometimes metallic or plastic.
Ooh Kay that makes perfect sense.[:D]
Joe,Seeing you always solder your joints and wire each section of track How do you know my way is leaving things by chance?
Sorry Joe I been doing that for years on my industrial switching layouts with no ill affects…However,if you wi***o spend hours wiring each section of track then by all means go fer it…But,in the end my layout will operate just as reliable as yours come lower inferno regions or high waters.
You see both ways will work equally well…[:D]