newbie layout and electrical questions

i just finished putting my tracks down and doing the wiring. It took a lot of effort but came out pretty nice and runs farily smooth. I have an outside loop with two turnouts into a middle loop with two turnouts into an inside loop. I also have a couple of turns to add stuff later. One is in the inner loop and the other is in the outer loop.

I have a couple of questions:

  1. There are some small gaps here and there. Can I put some solder and then file to fill out the gaps?

  1. When the train goes by the turnouts, there is a loss of power. The switches are the ones designed not to short circit. I wired 4 pairs of terminal joiners to the transformer so there wouldn't be power gaps. Is there anything I can do to avide the power gaps?

Thanks,

Andres

Reply to
andresmuro
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It is better not to solder all the track together as this would make the flexibility of the track a lot less with temp and humidity (the wood expands and contracts a lot more than the metal of the track does) and you will end up with kinks and so forth if the gaps weren't there. As to the turnouts, the points of the turnout should make good contact with the main rails so that shouldn't be a problem and that leaves the frog area of the turnout where the construction of the turnout determines how much of an insulated area that you have to deal with. The short section of insulated rail shouldn't cause any problems unless you are also having pickup problems with your locos, often due to rigid axles on the locos rather than sprung axles. All diesels, for example, all have rigid axles.

-- Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

Reply to
Bob May

Yes -- but if the gaps aren't giving you problems rights now I think you'd be better off to leave the gaps as-is, so that the rails and layout have the ability to move with changes in temperature and humidity without causing kinks later on.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

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