Trackwork

[pcarrell]

Hi Jarrell,

I just use a trammel for marking the centerline if I can. It's easiest to do this before you cat the roadbed. For after you've cut it I just use an ElMarko and trace around some sectional track that I lay in place temporarily. Then you just take up the sectional and lay the flex between the lines! This should be REAL easy for you since you already have the sectional laid out.

As for businesses, some of those businesses will handel several types of cars, both for import and export of goods and for the things that they need to continue doing business. The logging camp for example will need a tank car or two for running the steam donkey's, drinking, cooking, showering (at least you'd hope they need it for this), and so forth. They will also need a boxcar of various goods such as new saws, cloths, cooking utinsils, food, toiletries and so on. Coal might be needed at the sawmill and lumber yard to heat the offices (they wouldn't want to use up their precious commodity would they), and so forth.

A siding set aside for an interchange with the outside world would be good also. This way you companies can ship and recieve things from "off site" companies in the outside world. For that matter you could also route some cars as "passthroughs" (they come from off site and go to off site, you just get to see them en route) to add some veriety to your rolling stock.

I'll think about it some more and see what I come up with.

[oleirish]

Jarrell:
(mark the center line of the track )
In the ties you will see vary small holes right in the center,flex has a bunch of them,snap has three per section(I think?) a vary sharp pencil will make a mark down through the hole,remove the track and conect the dots[^][2c]This is how I do it!
JIM

[Anonymous]

A contrarian view. I solder everything except a few joints here and there on the straight aways (as do all of my buddies). Those not soldering switches may have problems later because switches are the weakest link electrically speaking. To not solder those joints to the switches is asking for trouble unless you are soldering feeders to the switches themselves because ultimately you are depending on rail joiners alone to supply power to the weakest link. Add ballast, glue, paint and 10 years of wear and see how the conductivity holds up.

If the reasoning is that it is easier to remove an unsoldered switch, it may be true before track is ballasted, but after ballasting it is a mess no matter how you slice it. As a last resort there is always the dremel to cut track apart.

My two cents,

[jacon12]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pcarrell

Jarrell,

I use a 30 watt iron and have no problems. I found that it helps if you have smaller diameter solder though. I got mine at Radio Shack.

Also, just food for thought, you might concider replacing some of those sectional pieces with some flex track. Less soldering and less possible points of trouble in the future. With your layout (which I must say is coming along very nicely) it won't take very many pieces but it might be wise, especially in the tunnels!

I have the pieces of the hill over the tunnel glued together now, but the hill isn't glued to the base yet, so I may lift it off, mark the position of the sectional track and replace it with flex track. Speaking of that, I was always a little puzzled when some books or magazine articles tell you to mark the center line of the track and I wondered how you do that with the crossties in the way. I can see where doing it like that would aid in accurate placement of the roadbed, I just don't see how you do it.
Also, on this layout .. so far.. I only see room for 3 or 4 'business', maybe I'm just not seeing the posibilites yet.
There will be the:
Logging camp itself up on the hill
sawmill and pond area
the lumber supply business
a small yard
and so far, thats it.

That is not much to keep anyones interest for very long from an operations standpoint, I would think.
Jarrell

[pcarrell]

Jarrell,

I use a 30 watt iron and have no problems. I found that it helps if you have smaller diameter solder though. I got mine at Radio Shack.

Also, just food for thought, you might concider replacing some of those sectional pieces with some flex track. Less soldering and less possible points of trouble in the future. With your layout (which I must say is coming along very nicely) it won't take very many pieces but it might be wise, especially in the tunnels!

[jacon12]

I'm just wondering now if this 30 watt iron will do. Only one way to find out.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Jarrell

[Anonymous]

I do the following, which I believe is a combo of what everyone has said above:

I solder all joints except turnouts
I solder the flex track pieces together before bending them around the curve
I have a little "jig" that I built to solder the track pieces together - it holds them flat

[jacon12]

Whew... I.. huh. I think I'm going to solder the joints.. well, most all of them anyway. Not the turnouts. Boy I have a lot of soldering to do since I've used quite a few pieces of sectional track. I don't quite trust my track laying skills yet.
I really appreciate all the suggestions and opinions and if I've learned ONE thing in MRing so far, that is there are usually several ways to do just about anything.
Jarrell

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UNIONPACIFIC4018

Well this is what I plan on doing on the next layout. Soldering feeders to each rail and not soldering any joiners also that have to be some allowance for exspansion of the rail. I will not solder any turnouts you never know when you will have to replace one.

Over time I have found that problems with expansion and contraction have little to do with rail and everything to do with the supporting surface. Homasote is particularly bad, but so is MDF.

My track is laid on 1/2" plywood. I solder everything, including switches. In 40 years of building HO layouts, I have had to remove only one switch because of a mechanical failure. The layout is in a garage the middle of the Sonoran Desert where the heat reaches 110 degrees or more routinely and have never had a problem with rail expansion.

I'm not trying to be contrarian, just sharing my own experience...[:)]


John Timm

[Anonymous]

For the best soldering, you need a HOT iron. Most 30 watt irons won't get hot enought to do a quick (but good) soldering job.

The secret to soldering track is to get in, solder the track, and get out before the rail heats up enough to damage the plastic ties. I use a 100 watt gun preheated until it brealy starts to smoke, and a daub of flux on the rail (for a feeder) or inside the rail joiner. I put a drop of solder on the end of the tip, and hit the rail with the iron. The rail heats up REALLY fast, melts my fine solder that I apply to the OTHER side of the rail, and I'm done is just a couple of seconds. It takes very little solder to make the connnection. I've never had a connection fail, and almost never melt a tie, even when soldering a connection between the rails.

Mark in Utah

P.S. I don't remove a rail when I solder a connection as long as I have the room to fit the iron between the ties.

[simon1966]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker

The only place I solder track joints is when I solder two pieces of flex track together before formign a curve. This helps prevent a kink at the joint that WILL fall somewhere in the curve (except for short cosmetic curves. At my 30" minimum radius, anything over about 45 degrees of curvature will end up havign a joitn in it). I would NEVER solder a turnout in place. If anythign is going to fail, it's goign to be a moving aprt liek a turnout, not a section of plain straight track. Since I DON'T sodler turnouts, I can easily slide back the rail joiners and lift one out if required. I actually already did that at one spot, where I decided to not include the siding I original planned for. Slid back the joiners, slight prey with a putty knife to loosen the caulk, and out came the turnout,t o be reused elsewhere. I even lifted the Tortoise out of the hole and reused that. Glued a scrap of foam back in the hole, put in a new strip of roadbed, and cut a piece of flex track to fit the gap, voila, back to a continuous main.

--Randy

So Randy, what do you do on the other joins... just tighten the railjoiners with pliers?
Thanks,
Jarrell

Jarrell, there is no problem leaving all the joints unsoldered except on the curve. Don't worry about tightening the rail joiners, just make sure you have track feeders on each section of track. If you crimp the rail joiners too tight there will no expanision ability either.

[orsonroy]

On my foam layouts, I've found that expansion is a non-issue, so I solder every joint EXCEPT at switches. I also add drop feeders every 3-4 feet. Electrical pickup through the rails is one of the weak points of this hobby, and I want to make sure that as much of the rail as possible is electron friendly.

[Anonymous]

Jarrell,

Do as I say, Not as I do. Solder your track joints and put feeder wires every three feet or so. I did not follow this wisdom and have had track joint separation problems as the warmer weather has caused my benchwork to expand slightly. The end result is I've had to go back and solder and add feeder wires. A job which is much easier before than after.

Continued Success on the layout,
Trevor

[randyaj]

I agree with Randy (how about that two Randys in agreement! must be worth something) I solder only on curves, BEFORE I bend the flex track into the curvature so that I insure a smooth curve. In addition I gap all joints , including turnouts, 20 thousands to allow for rail expansion. Unless you have a perfectly controlled enviroment (both humity and temp you will need room for growth and shrinkage.
Randy Johnson

[jacon12]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker

The only place I solder track joints is when I solder two pieces of flex track together before formign a curve. This helps prevent a kink at the joint that WILL fall somewhere in the curve (except for short cosmetic curves. At my 30" minimum radius, anything over about 45 degrees of curvature will end up havign a joitn in it). I would NEVER solder a turnout in place. If anythign is going to fail, it's goign to be a moving aprt liek a turnout, not a section of plain straight track. Since I DON'T sodler turnouts, I can easily slide back the rail joiners and lift one out if required. I actually already did that at one spot, where I decided to not include the siding I original planned for. Slid back the joiners, slight prey with a putty knife to loosen the caulk, and out came the turnout,t o be reused elsewhere. I even lifted the Tortoise out of the hole and reused that. Glued a scrap of foam back in the hole, put in a new strip of roadbed, and cut a piece of flex track to fit the gap, voila, back to a continuous main.

--Randy

So Randy, what do you do on the other joins... just tighten the railjoiners with pliers?
Thanks,
Jarrell

[rrinker]

The only place I solder track joints is when I solder two pieces of flex track together before formign a curve. This helps prevent a kink at the joint that WILL fall somewhere in the curve (except for short cosmetic curves. At my 30" minimum radius, anything over about 45 degrees of curvature will end up havign a joitn in it). I would NEVER solder a turnout in place. If anythign is going to fail, it's goign to be a moving aprt liek a turnout, not a section of plain straight track. Since I DON'T sodler turnouts, I can easily slide back the rail joiners and lift one out if required. I actually already did that at one spot, where I decided to not include the siding I original planned for. Slid back the joiners, slight prey with a putty knife to loosen the caulk, and out came the turnout,t o be reused elsewhere. I even lifted the Tortoise out of the hole and reused that. Glued a scrap of foam back in the hole, put in a new strip of roadbed, and cut a piece of flex track to fit the gap, voila, back to a continuous main.

--Randy

[oleirish]

Jarrell;
30 watt is fine.
Jim

[jacon12]

One more question on soldering track. Wattage-wise, how big an iron is needed? Is a 30 watt too little?
Thanks for all the above information, it's a big help!
Jarrell

[MisterBeasley]

While you're at the bench, think about soldering the feeder wires to the rail joiners at the same time. For one thing, that way it's possible to solder the feeders to the bottom of the joiners and the wires will be much less visible.

[Blind Bruce]

Jarrell,
Another thing to remember is that heat flows from hot to cold. This is important becaust the rail will absorb the heat from the iron at a slower rate than the lower mass joiner. Therefore, if you heat the joiner first, the rail will not be hot enough tomelt the solder. The way to do it with "outer space" type reliability is to place the iron on the fluxed RAIL and when the solder melts on the rail, you can be assured that the joiner is also hot enough.
This applies to wire attachment to rail as well if you decide not to solder the joiners.
BB

[simon1966]

Jarrell, I like to use the electronics grade rosin core solder. I remove 3 ties from the end of each section of flextrack (keeping the ties to slide back later) and join 2 sections at the bench. Make sure you have the sliding rail (atlas flex) on the same side!! Then join the track with the joiners. I place my soldering iron on the outside of the rail join right on top of the joiner. Hold for a couple of seconds and then touch the solder to the top of the joiner in the groove formed between the joiner and each track section. The solder quickly flows into the joiner. Quickly do the same for the other piece of track. In this way I create 6' sections on the bench which I can then install on the layout.

[Anonymous]

Jarrell,

Two secrets to soldering

1. Clean surfaces. Important if you are using weathered track or painted track to clean it off before soldering.

2. Extra Flux. Buy some Rosin paste flux and apply to the joint before soldering, even if you are using rosin core. A couple of buddies I have use no corrode brand acid flux for track slodering without any problems. They reccomend washing it off after soldering with some water. I have tried this and it works much better than the rosin flux, but washing the track is a hassle.

Practice on some scraps first....

[jacon12]

Thanks for the tips and the link. Another question on soldering flex track together is: Is the idea to heat the rail joiner AND the ends of both the rails of flex track at the same time, then touch the solder to those 3 things and hopefully it will flow into and around them to create a good electrical connection?
Jarrell

[UNIONPACIFIC4018]

Well this is what I plan on doing on the next layout. Soldering feeders to each rail and not soldering any joiners also that have to be some allowance for exspansion of the rail. I will not solder any turnouts you never know when you will have to replace one.

[simon1966]

Jarrell, here is a link that may answer some of your questions.

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/solder.htm

There is no hard and fast rule to this. You need to determine your own standard and move forward. I decided to follow the rule that "every section of track is soldered to something" So on my layout, each track section, including turnouts, either has a soldered track feeder or, is soldered to an adjacent track piece. Thus, there are no sections of track, no matter how short that rely on a track joiner alone for electrical continuity. This may be overkill, but I decided for the short time it takes to solder, it was worth eliminating future problems with dry joints from unsoldered rail joiners.

[jacon12]

How much soldering of trackwork is needed? At every joint? Or solder every few joints and simply squeeze the rail joiners together for a tight fit on the other joints? Does anyone have a link to a tutorial on soldering track? I've done several searches using keywords like soldering, track soldering etc but nothing turns up.
Jarrell