rrinker Actual rust, as in reddish-brown iron oxide? Was that track some of that horrid steel stuff that was available for a while (and still is, tha black base Bachmann EZ Track is steel, the grey base is nickel silver). Brass certainly oxidizes over time and turns nearly black (I still have some track that dates back to the early 60's) but shouldn't be growing a fuzzy coating of rust even if immersed in water. --Randy
Actual rust, as in reddish-brown iron oxide? Was that track some of that horrid steel stuff that was available for a while (and still is, tha black base Bachmann EZ Track is steel, the grey base is nickel silver). Brass certainly oxidizes over time and turns nearly black (I still have some track that dates back to the early 60's) but shouldn't be growing a fuzzy coating of rust even if immersed in water.
--Randy
It was Altlas nickel steel rail flex track ( code 100 ) and Atlas rail joiners. The joiners were reddish-brown color and the rail looked fine.
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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I recently removed some track that had been install about 18 years ago. All the rail jointers were soldered. Good thing too. Every rail jointer was completely rusted. This was probably caused by the white glue/water mixture that I used to install the ballast.
Something else to consider.
I need my friend who runs a sticker business to make me up some with a crossed out common rail. I never used common rail back in the day and I don't now with DCC.
No matter what other factors are involved, I've always felt it was much easier to troubleshoot when the entire circuit went to a given point, not just half of it. If a spot had no power, it had to be in one place - that two wire cable running from the power source to the dead spot. Not that one wire running direct OR some wire halfway on the other side of the layout. I just picked up direct wiring from the way my Dad did it on the layouts we used to set up over the holidays and I just stuck with it when making my own, even when following one of the Atlas plan books (which are always common rail wired).
BroadwayLion OH GEE! I wouldn't solder my joints together. That would make it very hard to walk or move your arms. NOPE, if you have joint problems use Naproxen Sodium or something like that. Well if you must solder your joints, at least they will stop hurting in comparison to the hot soldering iron. ROAR
OH GEE! I wouldn't solder my joints together. That would make it very hard to walk or move your arms. NOPE, if you have joint problems use Naproxen Sodium or something like that.
Well if you must solder your joints, at least they will stop hurting in comparison to the hot soldering iron.
ROAR
That stuff's bad for you. However, without it I would have a hard time walking some days.
My knees are helped more by ice than by heat, so I need some cans of freeze spray, not the soldering iron. Just don't grab the wrong end of the soldering iron, or him have hurt paw.
richhotrain ATLANTIC CENTRAL richhotrain Sheldon, I momentarily forgot that you are a DC guy. My bad. Rich No worries, think of it as a DCC layout with 20-30 power districts. Another reason why all of us old time DC guys solder or jumper our rail joints, we know we will need that "gap" before we get real far. And in my case, both rails are gaped, no common rail wiring. Each throttle has a totally isolated 4 amp power supply. Sheldon That's it. I am going to dump DCC and go back to DC. Rich
ATLANTIC CENTRAL richhotrain Sheldon, I momentarily forgot that you are a DC guy. My bad. Rich No worries, think of it as a DCC layout with 20-30 power districts. Another reason why all of us old time DC guys solder or jumper our rail joints, we know we will need that "gap" before we get real far. And in my case, both rails are gaped, no common rail wiring. Each throttle has a totally isolated 4 amp power supply. Sheldon
richhotrain Sheldon, I momentarily forgot that you are a DC guy. My bad. Rich
Sheldon, I momentarily forgot that you are a DC guy. My bad.
Rich
No worries, think of it as a DCC layout with 20-30 power districts. Another reason why all of us old time DC guys solder or jumper our rail joints, we know we will need that "gap" before we get real far.
And in my case, both rails are gaped, no common rail wiring. Each throttle has a totally isolated 4 amp power supply.
Sheldon
That's it. I am going to dump DCC and go back to DC.
They both have their advantages and disadvantages...........
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Alton Junction
Rich, I don't have a track buss because I run DC cab control, I have what you commonly call "blocks", we call them "sections". Each section has only one feeder to the rails that runs through an inductive occupancy detector. Sections are typically anywhere from 15 to 30 feet long on my layout. But with all the joints in a section soldered, that distance is not a problem. Those feeders feed from relays that direct track power from the specific cab assigned to that section. The relay modules are fed by a 12 gauge buss from each of the four mainline throttles.
No problems with voltage drop ever, it is hub and spoke wiring, distances are relatively short.
My choice now is to solder feeders to the rail joiners so rail is free to float a bit.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
ATLANTIC CENTRAL richhotrain I have a question for Chuck and Sheldon. My brother-in-law, who passed away a few years back, used to solder jumpers around the rail joiners. He would drill tiny holes in the sides of the rails on either side of the rail joiner and then solder small jumper wires that were shaped like staples. Is this what you two guys do on your track work? Rich Not me, when I use a jumper, or attach a feeder, I just lay the wire along the outside of the rail. The jumper is them looped out away from the rail joiner and the lays against the other rail. But I do solder most of my rail joiners directly, only using jumpers occasionally on long runs. I always solder joints on curves for smoothness. Sheldon
richhotrain I have a question for Chuck and Sheldon. My brother-in-law, who passed away a few years back, used to solder jumpers around the rail joiners. He would drill tiny holes in the sides of the rails on either side of the rail joiner and then solder small jumper wires that were shaped like staples. Is this what you two guys do on your track work? Rich
I have a question for Chuck and Sheldon. My brother-in-law, who passed away a few years back, used to solder jumpers around the rail joiners. He would drill tiny holes in the sides of the rails on either side of the rail joiner and then solder small jumper wires that were shaped like staples. Is this what you two guys do on your track work?
Not me, when I use a jumper, or attach a feeder, I just lay the wire along the outside of the rail. The jumper is them looped out away from the rail joiner and the lays against the other rail.
But I do solder most of my rail joiners directly, only using jumpers occasionally on long runs. I always solder joints on curves for smoothness.
richhotrain ATLANTIC CENTRAL I have been solding most of my rail joints for over 40 years. My DC controlled layout has electrical sections that are as long as 30-40 feet in some cases, and yes, like Chuck I do use jumpers in some places to allow for expansion. Never had any power issues or expansion issues in 46 years..... Sheldon I have a question for Chuck and Sheldon. My brother-in-law, who passed away a few years back, used to solder jumpers around the rail joiners. He would drill tiny holes in the sides of the rails on either side of the rail joiner and then solder small jumper wires that were shaped like staples. Is this what you two guys do on your track work? Rich
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I have been solding most of my rail joints for over 40 years. My DC controlled layout has electrical sections that are as long as 30-40 feet in some cases, and yes, like Chuck I do use jumpers in some places to allow for expansion. Never had any power issues or expansion issues in 46 years..... Sheldon
I have been solding most of my rail joints for over 40 years. My DC controlled layout has electrical sections that are as long as 30-40 feet in some cases, and yes, like Chuck I do use jumpers in some places to allow for expansion.
Never had any power issues or expansion issues in 46 years.....
I have about 250' of main line, all of it soldered together. I then cut electrical gaps where required (DC operation) and ca'd ABS plastic into the gaps to keep them from closing. I've never had any problems with expansion or contraction.
Wayne
There's a secondary consideration with all sectional track - and thatis how well it all fits together. Too often, it will say that you need X pieces to form a complete circle. So you connect X pieces and indeed, it forms a circle - with a bad kink at one of the joints. If the whole kink is at one joint, it will likely cause no end to frustrating derailments. THe same amount of kink spread out over 5 or 6 rail joints may be just fine and all but unnoticeable. So there may be reasons other than expansion and contraction to leave more joints unsoldered.
I personally solder jumpers around the joints and leave the rail joiners free to slide.
My longest electrical section is approximately 18 feet long, including six lengths of Code 100 flex and five sets of jumpers. Feed is at the center, so the longest run is nine feet of rail and two jumpers (The center jumper is also the feeder.) Running multi-motored juice jacks that draw over an ampere I have had no distribution problems.
Without knowing your track plan I can't begin to guess how I'd wire it, except to say that the feeder to every piece of rail is gross overkill unless your layout is laid with uncut stick rails 99 feet long.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - analog DC, MZL)
i have a small layout that uses sectional track. How much of the track can I solder together at the rail joiners so I don't have to run a feeder wire from every piece of track, ending up with a load of feeder wires every 9 inches or so. (9 inches is about the longest length in my sectional track. Some pieces are 2,3,or 4 inches)