HELP!!! quick info on plastic rail joiners

[streettrains]

having a brainfart here!!!![}:)] my local hobby shop guy was telling me about how to use the plastic rail joiner & I got all confused..... could someone tell me a quick easy or show me a non tech explanation of them & where to put them on my track work...... hope to get alot of work done today,,,

thanks again

Mike

[roadrat]

Plastic rail joiners are for electricly isolating one piece of track from the other, if your going to be using DC block control you need to isolate each block, for DCC you only need them on things like turning wyes etc.etc.


bill

[IRONROOSTER]

The purpose of plastic rail joiners is to electrically separate your track into blocks. Each block can then be switched between two throttles using electrical swithes. (DCC does things differently). One place they are used is on passing sidings. You put them on the diverging track ends - here's a crude diagram

_____J_____________________________J_________________
......\_J_____________________________J_/

The J's are the plastic rail joiners.

Here's a page with more info and diagrams http://www.nmra.org/beginner/wiring.html
enjoy
Paul

[streettrains]

I am going with DCC... so I wonder if I am confusing myself... with everything...

putting the plastic railjoiners on.. wouldn't that kill the power to the track?

right now doing my mainline loop.. where should I put some besides passing sidings?

thanks again
Mike

[pcarrell]

Hi Mike,

The joiners you are talking about are for electrically isolating one thrack from another, as you have probably already gathered. What you are really asking is "When is that needed?" It is needed anytime one rail crosses over another rail (switch or turnout). It is also needed anytime the rails turn back on themselves (reversing loop). It is also needed if you have a wye or in most cases with a turntable ( not the new Atlas turntable).

This is all true whether you are using DC or DCC.

Now with DC you also have to isolate sections (blocks) of track from other sections (blocks) of track so that you can run more then one locomotive at a time. If you only want to run one loco, skip this step.

You are correct that if you use the plastic joiners that you will not have power in that new section. You will have to run feeders to it from your power pack.

Here's where it gets a little more confusing, so fasten your seatbelt.

If you are running DC you would want to run the feeders from your power pack to an electrical switch so that you can control whether the power in that section of track (block)is on or off. Then you run the feeders from the switch to the track. There are also special switches needed for wyes, reverse loops and turntables (accept the new Atlas turntable). The Atlas Co. makes all of this stuff and it should be available at your local hobby store (LHS). While you are there you should look in the book section of the store and pick upo a book on wiring (Atlas puts out one that shows everything from the basics on up).

If you are running DCC things are a little easier. Just run the feeders directly to the track for a siding. If it is a reverse loop that you are dealing with then you will need the same switch as you would for DC if you want to switch it manually or you can automate it easily with a special electrical device made just for this purpose. I think Digitrax sells one called an AR1 that ran about $17 bucks at my LHS. It only controls one reverse loop, turntable or wye, but once you wire it up you can forget about it and run trains instead of running switches. If you need a couple of AR1's on your layout then you might want to concider getting a PM42 from digitrax. It ran about $64 dollars at the LHS but it can do the job of four AR1's.

Please note that I do not work for any of the companies that I mentioned. I just have used these products in the past and I know that they work. I'm sure that there are many other fine similar products available out there but I think that these arer pretty easy to find and use.

Hope this helps, now go get that book!

[Jacktal]

It all depends on what material you are using.First since you are going DCC,you will not need any insulating joiners for block control.Then if you are using insulated frog turnouts,again no need for them.But if you are using "Electrofrog" types,like Peco's,you will need an insulator on both branches of the frog.

The other cases where you need insulators are if you have a wye and or a return loop in your tracks.Then you will need insulators on both tracks at both ends of the loop.You will then also need either a polarity control switch or an automatic polarity reversing module to feed this section of track.

I suggest that you visit Loy's Toys website (Peco tracks) and/or Digitrax's.You will find plenty of infos there.Hoping this helps.

[dehusman]

A quick and dirty way to tell is whenever you have a track that has a frog on either end. For example at a siding the main between the switches and the siding has a frog on either end so your would need insulating joints on both ends to isolate the track. If you are using DCC you should be running power feeders from your bus to the track every 3 to 6 feet anyway. On my layout, every piece of flex track has its own feeders.

Dave H.

[streettrains]

slowly digesting all the info!!!!!

ummm now one more I think question... I think I am kliing myself about where to divide my layout into power districts.... I guess on the mainline where I want to put them, of course depends on where each district is... I don't want to lay my track and then figure I should have put them there or ona certain section,,..

Mike

[pcarrell]

I isolated the yard and major industrial section from everything else. Seems to me this is the most likely place for a derailment to occur (all those switches to pick the points on you know). My layout is not all that big though so this may become tedious on a larger layout.

[streettrains]

ok.. so it seems they should be placed, where you have switches?

I have a 15 x 23 layout, I am thinking of 3 blocks ( power districts)

[Anonymous]

Forget the plastic joiners!!! Lay all the track and cut gaps where you need them with a dremel. Much easier, better looking and cheaper. Perhaps a look at some basic wiring books would be in order here....

As far as switches go, just use good basic switch wiring techniques and you will be fine.

Are you using power routing switches???

Live or dead frogs???

Wire each accordingly.

[dinwitty]

my own brain has been going back and forth about DCC and its power on all the time,
It seems to me that you can run a loco to the end, then turn it off and select another loco and run it, there is still power going to the other engine, perhaps not using the current, but maybe I really do want to cut the power from the track for safety reasons and power reasons.
Insulated rail joiners is just another issue about deciding where an electrical gap in the track needs to be.
Insulated rail joiners are a boon for the snap track people quickly laying down a double loop on the floor and running 2 trains on the floor and maybe switching the train over to the other loop for the other controller to run.
Insulated rail joiners hold the track in position.
But on a big club layout I was on, we just cut gaps.
But there was a staging yard and some snap track was in use there, and maybe some insulated joiners got used there.
but it wasnt technically visually seen so the slightly offscale insuljoiners worked.
Insuljoiners on my layout? NEVAH!!!!

[selector]

Gaps will work just fine, PROVIDING expansions in the track due to either humidity-laden subroadbed, or temperature changes, don't inadvertently make the gapped rail ends make contact.

Some people suggest using styrene pieces placed between the rail gaps and shaping them with a Dremel to look like part of the rail. Others simply use the plastic rail joiners. If your train room doesn't experience dramatic changes in either humidity or temperature, gaps should work just fine. If not, use insulators of plastic.

[streettrains]

hey thanks for all the advice..

Iam using peco & atlas switches...

gaps sounds easier.. but the guy at the hobby shop never mentioned that... he seems to be a wealth of knowledge.. but didn;'t mention cutting gaps

[oleirish]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Trainnut1250

Forget the plastic joiners!!! Lay all the track and cut gaps where you need them with a dremel. Much easier, better looking and cheaper. Perhaps a look at some basic wiring books would be in order here....

As far as switches go, just use good basic switch wiring techniques and you will be fine.

Are you using power routing switches???

Live or dead frogs???

Wire each accordingly.

[:D]This is the way I do it allso ,I allso put a drop of thick CA in the gap allmost invisible and works great[^] OLE'IRISH

[Anonymous]

Grandfunk,

No one I know uses insulated joiners. Perhaps he felt that he could sell you some thing or thought that you were in the sectional track crowd....Cutting gaps is easy but has some risk in that it is possible to cut a huge gap or in very rare instances have the cutting wheel move the rail and mess up alignment. I have never had any problems.....If you are not sure, practice on some junk track. The beauty of gaps is that you can always easily add a block later. Selector is right about the possibility of gaps closing, but the CA trick that Chip mentions works well.....

[streettrains]

ok think I was thinking too much, getting too much info all at once when I started laying track!!! hahahahaha
here is what I am going to do.. just lay the track and then cut some gaps....

now what do I do if eventually a gap is too big..

thanks again