desoldering rails

[Sperandeo]

I don't cut the rail joiners, just heat up the joint and slide the rail joiner one way or the other until it's completely on one rail. Then it's easy to remove the track. You don't even have to slice off any "spike heads" on track with plastic ties – the hot joiner will take care of that!

So long,

Andy

[cacole]

If the track is already loose or removed from the layout, heat the joiner and pull the rails apart; then use a wire brush in a Dremel to get the remaining solder off of the rail. Never solder a turnout. A turnout is the only item with moving parts that can fail, so I never solder them. On mail line trackage, I solder only every other rail joint and leave the others loose to allow for expansion and contraction. I solder feeder wires at every flex track joint to insure that there is no loss of DCC signal or DC amperage loss on long track runs. On those rail joints that are soldered, the feeders can be soldered to the joiner, and on the joints that are not soldered I solder the feeder to the outside of the rail approximately 1/2 inch from the joint. If a turnout ever needs to have a feeder wire, I solder them to the outsides of the rail near either end of the turnout, but never to a rail joiner. This allows the turnouts to be removed if necessary by simply sliding the rail joiners off.

[tomwatkins]

I usually cut the rail joiner in half with rail cutters then heat the top of the rail with the soldering iron. When the solder softens I slide the joiner half off the rail with a small screwdriver. I usually only do this with turnouts. On flex track I just snip the the joiner and the end of the rail off and lose a little length.

Tom Watkins

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by snowey

does anyone know of a 100%, sure-fire way of doing this? I tried using the desoldering braid from Radio Shack, but it didn't work. On the first track I used it on, I thought it worked, but when I tried to seperate the tracks, one of the rails came out of the ties!!
I'm thinkink that maybe it was the braid. Does anyone know of a better brand? Or, like I said, have a 100%, sure-fire way of doing this???[?]

The problem with braid or wick is that it's a slow process and is really good for small jobs-- the rail is probably getting too hot and melting the ties enough so that the rails come out of the ties. You could try using a desoldering pump which requires a bit of practice and a bit more $$ but works well, or try using a heat-sink between the joint and the first railroad tie, which should remove the heat from the rails better and not melt the ties. Plastic railroad ties melt easily.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty much a one way deal. The only luck I ever had was cut the joiner and then removing the 1/2 joiner with a hot soldering tip used as a prybar. I only mess with expensive pieces like switches. The flex track I cut with a nipper behind the joint and loose 1/2" of track. FRED

[FJ and G]

couldn't you just heat it up and then quickly wet-sponge it off?

Worst-case scenario, use dremel

[snowey]

does anyone know of a 100%, sure-fire way of doing this? I tried using the desoldering braid from Radio Shack, but it didn't work. On the first track I used it on, I thought it worked, but when I tried to seperate the tracks, one of the rails came out of the ties!!
I'm thinkink that maybe it was the braid. Does anyone know of a better brand? Or, like I said, have a 100%, sure-fire way of doing this???[?]