Soldering Track Joiners

[Pruitt]

This is a relatively frequent discussion here.

I solder rail joiners on curves (flextrack - makes the curve smooth through the joint), but not on straight track. I add feeders to about every fourth section of flextrack, making the feeders about 12' apart. I clean the rail ends throroughly before installing the joiners, and have never had a conductivity failure.

[wjstix]

I tried using track connectors with wires soldered to them to transmit power, it generally worked OK but wasn't totally reliable. If you're using 3' flextrack I would solder a feeder to every piece of track, and just use the joiners to hold the track together.

A few 'old timers' used to solder wire jumps around the track connectors to run power, but I don't think that's that common now??

[jimsrpo]

One of the best ways to increase the stability of your trackwork is to ballast with the standard white glue or matte medium method soon after tracklaying or at least before the next seasonal change.

That is why most recent tracklaying methods involve pinning down track temporarily until the ballast glue sets up.

 Jim

[skerber]

However, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way with joiners...not even as a rule.  The key is to ensure that our track is stable.  If your trackwork is allowed to wiggle and move around, especially dip and rise as engines run along them, you can pick any day on your calendar for having to replace splayed or worn joiners that no longer maintain the integrity of the joint and its intended electrical connection.  I have found that my problem joiners, when they happen, are near or over less than ideal roadbed.

Boy is he speaking the truth!!  I am learning first hand about my track instabilities.  I had a magnet in the track for uncoupling and removed it later on (a couple of months ago).  All my locomotives travelled well over the area up to this weekend without loosing contact.  My sound equipt locomotive though during this weekend started loosing contact about half of the time when it crossed the area.  I filled in the gap with some AMI instant roadbed (that is what I used initially--never again!), so hopefully the shifting will stop.  If not, I guess I have to think about tearing up the section, and relaying it. 

[davekelly]

If I disconnect a joint for any reason, it gets a new railjoiner before re-assembly. 

This is key.  The money you save by reusing rail joiners is less than what you'll spend on Motrin/Tylenol down the road. Take a wild guess how I reached this conclusion

[Texas Zepher]

As Selector says it probably depends on the quality of your track laying.  I do not solder joints unless they are on a curve and then it is for the structural integrity of the rail not for electrical reasons.  

I've also had good luck using a rail joiner exactly once.  Put the joiners on, press the rails together and be done.  If I disconnect a joint for any reason, it gets a new railjoiner before re-assembly. 

[selector]

I have had good results with track joiners, but I have also had some failures.  Usually a slight shifting of the joiner back and forth restores the connection, but that is likely to be a temporary fix...6 days, 6 weeks, 6 months later, you are back at it again with that joiner.

However, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way with joiners...not even as a rule.  The key is to ensure that our track is stable.  If your trackwork is allowed to wiggle and move around, especially dip and rise as engines run along them, you can pick any day on your calendar for having to replace splayed or worn joiners that no longer maintain the integrity of the joint and its intended electrical connection.  I have found that my problem joiners, when they happen, are near or over less than ideal roadbed.

So, how is your skill for laying track?  If a bit tentative, all things considered, then you would be better off soldering a feeder to every length of track, a length generally being two 3' sections also soldered together...to keep the numbers of feeders to a minimum.

The feeders should come off a bus.  The bus should be a straight line configuration, an open loop, or a Y shape.  Keep the feeders, particularly in the 22 gauge range, to 2' or less if at all possible.  If your bus will be required to supply something like 5 amps, it should be in the 14 gauge to 12 gauge range. 

[Don Z]

If the OP is who I think it is, he's located in Austin, TX in an air-conditioned room in his home. He's also working with N scale track.....I would solder pieces of flex track that are going to be curved, to keep the curve constant without any kinks if a joint is in the middle of the curve.

Don Z.

[cacole]

You don't indicate where you are, but climate can have an effect on a model railroad's track caused by expansion and contraction of the wood upon which you build a layout, especially in humid conditions.  On a club HO-scale layout and my home HO layout, I soldered every other flex track joint and have feeder wires at thse soldered joints.  And it's a good idea to never solder a turnout in place, because they are the only piece of trackwork with moving parts that can fail and need to be replaced.

[rlandry6]

I doing a DCC layout. Is it better to solder the track joiners and drop feeders at a certain interval or not solder and drop a feeder to each section of track? I'm using flextrack except where I need to insert a short piece to bridge a gap or something like that. The layout is in an upstairs room, and there will be some temperature variations, but nothing like it wold be in an area such as a garage.