What is the secret to soldering the center black rail of gargraves track?
You have to remove the rust inhibitor that coats the rail (light weight oil). I gave up on trying to solder the center rail and switched to forcing a spade lug in from the underside. Remember the outer rails are tin plated and that is why they take solder so easily.
I just scrape the side of the center rail with an exacto knife where I want to solder a wire onto. Then I tin it there & have never had a problem. I also scrape the sides of the outer two rails . I have also done like Chuck, putting it up the inside, but usually I have the track down already, so I solder it in place.
Thanks, John
John has it absolutely right – if you don’t remove the black from the center, the solder won’t bond.
Poppyl
As pointed out cleaning,coating removal, fluxing and tinning is the best way to acheive a good solder joint on a wire to Gargraves track. I’ve also found that the old style long irons work a bit better than the instant heat types. I have my dads old soldering iron from many years ago and it still works great.