Soldered Rail Joints?

[ceejaydee]

As some may know I have recently been dabbling in the dark arts and this has involved the study of many heavy and rare tomes and the modern version in the form of online artifacts via the google portal!

Something that I have come across quite frequently with US model railroading is that these guys tend to solder their rail joints completely to provide electrical continuity.
Now I was under the impression and from an early age that we in the UK do not solder our rail joints for many reasons and one of the main ones being because of expansion & contraction issues.
This may have been indoctrinated into me during my youth where the various beginners books steer you away from soldering joints so that you can re-use your sectional track however this may something I need to reconsider.
I am thinking that our overseas friends would be far more likely to encounter a wider range of temperatures and therefore be at greater risk of track damage than us in Old Blighty however they would still seem to prefer this method rather than merely rely on fishplates/rail joiners for electrical continuity.

On the last layout I built I did use a number of power feeds however I also relied on rail joiners for continuity and did experience the occasional power problem.
My plan on the next layout was to feed each piece of rail which is the 'belt & braces' approach but I am now considering soldering a few rail joints to create larger sections of track and then feeding each of those larger sections.
All this consideration has made me wonder what methods of joining track and feeding power to the rails do the Gentlemen of WT have preference for and have any of you ever soldered your rail joints US style?

 

[Dog Star]

I use only Exactoscale ABS fishplates.... soldering those items leads to a 100% mess. As the ABS plates are insulating then I have to provide a feed to each separate piece of rail - at least I can generally make the necessary insulation gaps with little difficulty.

I use scrap etch to produce "L" droppers and those droppers are soldered to the underside of the rail. The etch strip is filed to be "rail width" for about 6mm - the strip is then bent at 3mm to provide a short tag for soldering and a thin strip to go down the side of the sleeper.

regards, Graham

 

[daifly]

I am thinking that our overseas friends would be far more likely to encounter a wider range of temperatures and therefore be at greater risk of track damage than us in Old Blighty however they would still seem to prefer this method rather than merely rely on fishplates/rail joiners for electrical continuity.

I suspect that many of these layouts are built in air-conditioned homes or basements with a degree of temperature stability that we can only dream about and therefore have less issues with expansion than we do.

 

[ceejaydee]

Graham - your method would indeed be 'belt and braces' and almost invisible on the finished track (S7?) - are you using DCC or DC for control on your layout?

Good point daifly as I hadn't really considered the more widespread use of A/C in homes and hobby rooms

You're not mistaking any terminology, are you, and confusing soldering wire feeds to rail joiners with soldering the rail joints?.

I don't think so as in one instance I watched a video Here where the guy was laying track in the yard on his layout and had soldered the joints on the sets of points that he was using to make the entrance to his ladders of sidings. This meant he had blocks of three and four points soldered together and was then laying flex between them.
I have also noticed that Big Al (Monster Railroad) has soldered rail joints

Skip to around 4.10 if you want to avoid too much craziness

 

[Dog Star]

Graham - your method would indeed be 'belt and braces' and almost invisible on the finished track (S7?) - are you using DCC or DC for control on your layout

Belt and braces? Absolute necessity, where motive power is collected from the rails, because all of the fishplates are insulating by virtue of being made from ABS. The layout is DCC rather than DC.... and that is a secondary concern in my case.

regards, Graham

 

[Eastsidepilot]

On the West Mersea layout of the S7 East Anglian mob we have feed dropper wires soldered to a brass chair as near to the center of the length of rail as possible to every rail that sits between a fishplate with a bus bar running under the base board for DCC. Incidently the fish plates we use are our own castings, in brass, the rail is drilled at each end with two holes, as prototype. with the fish plates having cast pins to pass through the holes and soldered to the other half of the fishplate which has holes to accept the pins.
This leaves the rail to expand and contract whilst the fish plate keeps the rails in line.
We use Exactoscale ABS fish plates for insulating common crossings.
ATB, Col.

 

[Dog Star]

On the West Mersea layout of the S7 East Anglian mob...View attachment 11133

Hi Colin, why does the far switch rail have the keys on the inside and the corresponding closure rail have the keys on the outside?
regards, Graham

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Hi Colin, why does the far switch rail have the keys on the inside and the corresponding closure rail have the keys on the outside?
regards, Graham

Graham,
This switch was built to LNER standards, the heal end of the blades are held in P.R. chairs ( numbered from 3-9 depending on the size of the switch), these chairs keep the switch and stock rails in their correct position in relation to each other. The 1 & 2 P.R chairs have only one and half jaws, the inner side being like a slide chair.
The 3-9 P.R.chairs have a spacing block in the centre with keys on the outside of the chair very much like a check rail chair but obviously at the angle and distance/dimension required.

I made these by butchering Exactoscale S1 chairs, I'm hoping Dave Rayner will produce the P.R. chairs later to complement his crossing chairs.


ATB, Col.

 

[S-Club-7]

I made these by butchering exactoscale S I-J chairs, I'm hoping Dave Rayner will produce these later to complement his crossing chairs.

Do you mean Exactoscale S1 chairs or L1 chairs? As far as I'm aware the only S1-J chair is the one produced by Off The Rails but if anybody knows of any others then I'm sure we'd all like to know.
And yes, there are plans to produce the chairs required for A, B and C switches as well. Just don't ask when that will be!

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Do you mean Exactoscale S1 chairs or L1 chairs? As far as I'm aware the only S1-J chair is the one produced by Off The Rails but if anybody knows of any others then I'm sure we'd all like to know.
And yes, there are plans to produce the chairs required for A, B and C switches as well. Just don't ask when that will be!

Sorry Dave, yes I meant S1 Exactoscale chairs. Post edited mate

Col.

 

[Pugsley]

I have also noticed that Big Al (Monster Railroad) has soldered rail joints
Skip to around 4.10 if you want to avoid too much craziness

I didn't know he was still around, he certainly has a unique style!

He's the only modeller that I know of that has inspired graffiti on a full size boxcar, unfortunately I can't post the picture as
a) It's not my picture.
b) It's very rude.

Now, every time I hear him mentioned, I just think of that boxcar! I never found him that irritating, although someone clearly did.

Edit - Actually it's a covered hopper and it's not quite as rude as I remember, although the implication is certainly there! It's still not my picture though.

 

[Phill Dyson]

I think it's quite an interesting idea to solder rail joints indoors assuming the location of the layout has a reasonably stable temperature........I wish we could get away with it outdoors (it would save me a lot of @rsing around with jumper cables )

........I don't find Big Al irritating either, I think he reminds us that this hobby of ours is meant to be fun !......... I can't remember the title, but my favorite of his is the fitting a DCC chip the easy way vid

Phill