OK, I’ve finally started trying to lay track on my first layout. I have Atlas Code 83 flextrack, cork roadbed and Atlas Code 83 rail joiners. I’ve put down some cork roadbed and want to connect some pieces of flextrack. I’ve cut the ends of two pieces of flextrack using my pair of Xircon Rail Snippers, but the rail joiners out of the box won’t slide onto the rail ends. Do I need to pry the rail joiners apart a bit to get them to slide on the rail, or am I missing something here? Scary how difficult this hobby can be sometimes for seemingly simple tasks!
You need to file the ends of the rails a little where you snipped them. If you look closely you’ll see that there’s a little lip there where the pressure from the snippers caused the edge of the rail to deform. After that the joiner should slide on without a problem. It should be snug but not really tight. For a permanent fit solder the joiners in place.
Hi Venckman, even though you’re using your snippers to cut your rail you will probably still want to take a small file to the ends just to make sure there are no burrs or bulges at the ends of the rails and they’re nice and square. I would suggest NOT changing your rail joiners because you want them as tight as can be so they will conduct electricity without making lose connections. Hope this helps.
A word of caution here: the original poster is advised to make sure that every section of rail has at least one set of power feeders. Rail joiners, even if tight, are poor conductors. On my layout, every section of rail has feeders, including turnouts. I also solder all rail joiners for the sake of redundancy and I never experience stalling due to poor electric contact. As an aside, I have never, ever had problems with expansion or contraction of the rails.
If your railroad lived in my non-climate-controlled Mojave Desert garage, you,d be fully aware that the women got it right. Rail joints do close up in summer (115F or above) and open in (sub-freezing) winter.
Back to the original question. Even rail fresh out of the box has minute burrs, so a few strokes of a file are necessary on every rail end. While you’re at it, take the sharp corner off the top inside of the railhead, where wheel flanges pass. That little bevel, barely visible to the naked eye, is the most effective derailment preventer I know.
Da Shack sells a cute little set of miniature files for a nice low price, and you’ll find lots of uses for them.
As for electricals, I don’t solder a drop to each and every rail length. (I run analog, not DCC, and prefer one drop per electrical section for troubleshooting convenience. My longest to date electrical section is about five meters, and the drop is connected to the middle rail length.) I DO solder jumpers around every rail joiner. (So, for that matter, does the UP - for signaling continuity.) Don’t depend on the joiners to maintain electrical continuity unless you solder them - but DO keep them as tight as possible for mechanical alignment.
The only times I have ever seen happen, it was due to the underlayment, i.e. the layout was built out of an unstable material. I had a friend who had to re-lay a complete rail yard that was built on Homasote. I’ve also seen problems with composite materials made of wood fibre, which is what it appears you are using. Using 1/2" plywood and, more recently, pink foam, both of which are dimensionally stable, I have never had a problem, be it in the hot / humid summers of the midwest, the cold / dry winters of the Midwest, or the hot, hot, dry summers of Arizona–in a garage, no less.
Somewhere or other, I have seen a couple of postings that show the coefficient of expansion of nickel silver rail. It is very slight and you can raise or lower the ambient temperature around it and it barely expands or contracts.
100’ of contiguous (solid, no breaks) Code 100 NS rail will expand by 1/4" over a 30 deg rise in temperature. Very little, when you think about it. Four expansion joints spaced over a 100’ length of rail should take care of that 1/4".
Homasote is sealed by those who know how to use it. It is a notorious humidity sponge. Great for sound reduction.
The types of files you want are often sold in thin plastic bags, six or more to the bag, found in hardware and tool shops…they’re called needle files. I have a set of these, plus a similar bag of different types of picks (like dental scaling tools) ready for my use when I am fiddling on the layout. They sure come in handy.
