Need some help/advice. I am currently finishing laying and nailing track. I would like to know if I should solder the rail joiners. I am using Code 83 sectional track or should I leave it alone. Also should I hook up another rail joiner connector to make sure I have power?
Thanks, Tommy
Tommy,
Soldering is a matter of choice. If you are sure that your track won’t move, then you can probably get away without soldering the rail joiners. Be advised, though, that corrosion can still play a factor even if the rail joiners don’t slip. I would recommend soldering them on the outside of the rails, just a little bit of solder is sufficient, enough to ensure a good electrical contact joint. Use a rosin-core solder and flux.
Depending on the size of your layout and how you have constructed the benchwork, I would recommend running 14 gauge stranded wire under the layout. Run 2 separate wires parallel and about 2" apart and make sure you label them A and B. If you use red/black “zip” wire, you won’t need to label them. Every 2 - 4 feet, strip the insulation off the wires and tin the strands. On either side of your track, directly or as close to above it as you can get, drill a small-diameter hole, maybe 1/8" - 3/16" and thread 22 gauge solid wire through each hole. This 22 gauge wire can then be soldered to the 14 gauge “bus” wires and to the sections of track. If you use the rail joiners that come with power leads, use them instead of the 22 gauge wire, but solder them to the bus wires. This way, you won’t have any “dead” spots where the voltage is so low that the locomotives slow down or even stop running.
Hope this helps. Keep those questions coming!
I run a jumper wire of a very small guage around the rail joiner and solder each end directly to the rail. The wire can be hidden easily with ballast. If you decide to make changes to your track plan it is alot easier to cut the wire or heat the joint at the rail to get the two sections of track apart. If the rail joiners are soldered you have to heat both joiners that are across from one another to get your track apart.
I do the same thing Tweet does when I have an unpowered peice of track that I want to gap. Lately I have got into the practice of putting track feeders onto every peice of flextrack and simply solder turnouts and crossings. Then it’s as easy to isolate section of track in the future. For joints that I want isolation but gaps and even rubber jointers don’t cut it such as in curves, I glue them by first applying cyanoacrylate to the ends of all the rails. Then I hold them together with an angle guide with clips that holds the top and the flangeway even. Last I glue the inside and outside of the rails together.
SM, is this angle guide commercially available or is it a ‘homebrew’?
I agree with the soldering advice given above but I would add that if you use rosin core solder be sure to clean off any of the brownish colored flux residue that remains with alcohol. If left as is the flux will cause corrision with time.
JC