Is soldering a absolute must?

I started a layout and you all have been alot of help! Hopefully I can contribute someday... This layout is about 30 by 12 N scale. Does every joint need soldered?

Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Miller
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Kevin=A0Miller wrote: I started a layout and you all have been alot of help! Hopefully I can contribute someday... This layout is about 30 by 12 N scale. =A0 Does every joint need soldered?

--------------------------------------------------- No. My layout is 11'x3' with sectional track and I did not solder the joints. There is no loss of power even though I have only one set of wires to the track. One thing I did was to make sure the rail joiners fit very tightly and if they were not tight, I replaced them with new joiners that fit tightly.

I have no loss of power anywhere on the track but if I were to do it again, I'd probably use extra feeders just to be on the safe side. Where I have blocks there is one feeder to each block of course.

My reason for the sectional track was that the layout is against three walls so all access to any changes I wanted to make had to be done from the front of the layout and I wanted to be able to re-locate turnouts, etc. as time went by. That part proved to be a good choice in my case. I do have a branckline with flex track, though.

Good luck with your railroad!

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Reply to
Bill

For best conductivity, yes.

Reply to
Slingblade

Soldering every joint is not an absolute must.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

No. It is not even a good idea to solder ALL your rail joints. Some 'give' for expansion and contraction is usually needed somewhere. Likewise don't lay the rail solidly butted together at the joints ... leave a small gap. It's not so much the rail that changes dimension, as it is the benchwork. Layouts swell in humid times, and shrink when it's dry. This usually follows the heating/air conditioning seasons, and depends on your climate.

In general NEVER rely on an unsoldered trail joint for electrical contact. They may work well for a while, even a few years, but dirt and corrosion will eventually cause the metal-to-metal contact to fail. Also, minimize the number of rail joints by using 3' sections of rail or flex-track. DON'T build a large permanent layout with short sectional track. Every rail joint is both a potential electrical problem and a potential point of derailment.

There are two systems that seem to work best, from my experience.

1) Solder the rail into lengths about ten feet long, and provide a feeder wire to each rail section.

2) Solder a feeder wire to EVERY rail section, and don't solder any of the primary rail joints. ... this is a bit more work, but is probably the best solution overall.

Of course, some combination of the two can also be used. Some modification is almost always necessary to suit particular situations. Normal electrical 'block' lengths may provide a satisfactory length for continuous soldered rail. You'll find situations where you may want to solder SOME rail joints, especially where several short sections are connected together, as can occur around switchwork. This assists with mechanical stability as well as electrical contact.

Dan Mitchell ==========

Kev>

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

=>So my advice to you would be not solder the joints, just make sure they are =>nice and tight, but definitely solder your wires to your track. Others may =>disagree, feel free to do so. =>

=>Steve =>Newcastle NSW Oz

Agreed, and highly recommended.

Wolf Kirchmeir ................................. If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on this train? (Garrison Keillor)

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

Thanks all! I expected people to recommend soldering the joints... I think I'lll soldering the leads and curves on my felx track and not the rest... now to "DCC or not to DCC??" :)

Reply to
Kevin Miller

I've never actually soldered any joints. I find it more useful put in extra electrical feeds.

Cheers David

Reply to
David Bromage

I agree with this. Expansion and shrinkage of the wooden benchwork from dry heating season to moist summer can make the roadbed grow or shrink by large factions of an inch over a room length table. I lay the track with a bit of clearance perhaps 1/16th inch, between each rail. Good tight new rail joiners will hold the track in mechanical alignment and permit a bit of "give" down the length of the track. To get juice to all sections of track after a rail joiner gets some corrosion under it and stops conducting, I run a power bus wire under the table all around the layout. Use good thick wire. Number 14 solid house wire is readily available at Home Depot. Then solder thin feeders up from the under table bus to the track. Ideally each piece of track gets it's own feeder. In practice things work OK with fewer feeders. Solder the feeder wires to the track. Use Radio shack alligator clips as heat sinks to avoid melting ties.

David Starr

Reply to
David J. Starr

I have been building in HO for over 50 years, and still have everything I ever acquired including a lot of TruScale Self Gaging roadbed. When I started the present layout about 4 years ago, which, given that I am 65, may be my last, I did toss out all of the old brass and steel rail, but in my less visible (but accessible) yards I am using some brass Atlas flextrack that still has the fibre ties stapled to the rail - it is probably 40+ years old. On curves, I solder all rail joints, whether laying individual rails or flex track. I don't solder joints on tangent, but I do use the new joiners which work with either code 100 or code 83 - they are very tight on code 100. I will soon start a double track helix (31/28 radius) and all joints on it will be soldered. To reduce the problems with moister and changes in benchwork dimensions, I purchase my lumber, usually #2 pine 1x4 or 1x3, usually from Lowes, at least 2 months before I plan to use it. I just lay it flat on the floor under the layout until it has thoroughly dried. I also spent 34 years playing with 1ft. = 1 ft. scale.

J. H. Sullivan aka Railroadman

Reply to
Railroadman

You're probably going to get every reply in the world here.

But my answer is an emphatic NO.

I never solder any joints unless there is some specific problem with it that soldering would help. I run an electrical feeder to each piece of track so that the joiners aren't needed for electricity just alignment.

Reply to
SleuthRaptorman

Kevin, I have had several layouts over the last 30 years and I am planning a move so I will be building another. So far, I have soldered every joint and have not had any rail expansion problems. This may be more luck that anything else. For my next layout, I will probably solder everything for 10 feet, leave an unsoldered joint and then do another 10 feet, just in case I might have an expansion problem. Every 10 foot section will have feeder wires soldered to the rail for good electrical conductivity. On my current layout I did not do this and I should have. My mainling has a section running about 30 feet and depending on soldered joints to carry the current. At one end of the mainline, power is low because of a loss through all those soldered joints and resistance. It would be an easy fix, but would have been much easier if I had done it BEFORE all the painting and track ballasting. Doug

Reply to
Doug

I'm a little late here but here's what works for me Kevin:

For curves / curved track:

Solder rail joints for track that will be on curves. Do this before you lay the track. Solder two sections of flextrack together while they are straight leaving about a .015 or .020 gap, then conform this six-foot piece of flextrack to the curve. This is both mechanically and electrically sound. It is difficult to introduce a kink into the rail joint of curved flextrack using this method, one that has been mentioned many times in the model RR press. For straight track: Don't solder rail joiners/ joints, let them ?float.' Instead of soldering feeder wires to each section of track, you can cut the number of feeders in half by using ?jumpers' or what are technically termed ?bonds.' More specifically, for every 6 foot of track (two 3 foot sections), solder one set of feeders to one of the three foot sections. Then, for an electrically sound connection to the adjacent three foot section, solder a 1" to 1 1/4" long 24 ga. (solid wire) jumpers / bonds to the tracks on either side of the rail joiners being careful not to solder the rail joiners themselves. With weathering, the bonds ?disappear.'

Mark

Reply to
Mark Z.

A fine solution, and basically what the real railroads do for signal continuity.

Dan Mitchell ==========

"Mark Z." wrote:

Reply to
Daniel A. Mitchell

In my opinion yes! It is one sure way to ensure a good connection, however it does make it perminant so be sure the alignment is correct first and the track is how you want it to be

R> I started a layout and you all have been alot of help!

Reply to
Ronald Gardner

Absolutely? That seems extreme.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

extremely absolutely

Jim Stewart

Reply to
Jim Stewart

IMHO -rail joiners are for girls --- 8-)

A feeder every three feet.

Align joints using spikes.

Leave .010-.015 gap ("click-clack" sounds very realistic).

Slip a "relieved" tie beneath the joint.

Ballast. Rust.

Aaaaah!

Looks like the real thing ----

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Stull

But is it utterly extremely absolutely? :)

Reply to
Steve Magee

Most Assuredly

Don

Reply to
Trainman

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