In all the topics about soldering wires to track, I’ve never seen anything about any problems caused by the ballast or the adhesives used to hold the ballast causing any degridation of the electrical signals or power. What should someone avoid or try to control?
Thanks much in advance.
Don
In over 50+ years of modeling, I’ve never heard of any problems with electrical integrity from ballast or the glue that holds it in place. EXCEPT if glue gets on top of the rails causing an insulation between the wheels and the rail. Ken
While the ballast glue is wet (water based) some signal systems with detect current flow between the rails. After the glue dries the problem goes away.
If the soldering is accomplished before ballasting and scenery work, there’s nothing to be concerned about, but if you are trying to solder to track that has been ballasted residual glue on the sides of the rail or within rail joiners could inhibit a good solder joint and cause problems.
I have read or heard of someone ballasting track with a materail that had some type of metal coating in it. This would cause serious problems. Also I purchaced a lot of track and turnouts from an individual, who had weathered it. Great I thougth, Until I tried to power my layout. The paint he had used contain metal pigments and you guessed it, trashed the whole lot. So don’t try to cheap out always read the ingedients in a product and just out of curiousity take a magnet to your ballast before you use it.
Do not ballast track with your power pack attached and turned on.
the glue solution that is used to secure ballast will cause continuity problems with joints that are left unsoldered for expansion and contraction purposes. if this happens you can solder one or two strands of wire around the joint to restore continuity. as for painted track, a dremel tool with a wire wheel will polish the side of the rail and remove the paint at the point where you want to solder. when i assemble track i always polish the rail this way to remove any tarnish or residue from the manufacturing process that could impede current flow. the glue might also effect continuity where there are power routing switches that depend on contact with the stock rail or at the place where the point hinges are.
Running feeder wires to your track every 6’ as recommended will help take care of this too. Never heard of dry ballast/glue causing a problem unless someone cheaped out by using sand that had iron in it.