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Rail Joiners

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  • Member since
    October 2003
  • From: Southern Minnesota now
  • 956 posts
Rail Joiners
Posted by Hawks05 on Sunday, November 9, 2003 5:45 PM
i bought a ton of nickel plated track this weekend and i need rail joiners for it. i have some brass rail joiners from a set but i don't know if i can use them with the nickel plated track?

what do i need? do i need nickel rail joiners for nickel track or can i just use the brass rail joiners?

Thanks

Jim
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: US
  • 60 posts
Posted by vw-bug on Sunday, November 9, 2003 7:37 PM
The Brass ones will work but, I would see, the next time you are at the hobby shop about getting nickel silver. The biggest reason is that it will match in color but anlso that they don't oxidize as badly as Brass will. The brown coat that makes brass look dirty is a non-conduction oxidation. Nickel-Silver oxidizes too but it will still allow about 50-70% conductivity for electicity. Also solder your joints together to give the best electrical contact see the other chat thread about that.
Horly! Jason
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 9, 2003 11:51 PM
Both these topics (RJ ands rj) have several modelers who consider the metal rail joiners to be conductive for the years to come. LOL! The metal rjs keep the rail aligned and may conduct electricity. Since the joins are severly stressed by operations, they work and when the solder cracks, they may stop conducting. Us old grey heads recommend adding small wire drops to wiring under the surface for best electrical performance for either DCC or DC operations. Lindsay

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