Dog Star
Western Thunderer
Once you start to make your own track then all sorts of problems challenges come to the fore, for example:- the manufacturer of RTR-track does not make a power connector clip that fits with your choice of rail / sleeper height / ballast method... this thread is to show the way in which I provide an electrical feed to track that I have built. The first photo shows a number of the "droppers" before soldering to the rail... made from brass strip which can be obtained from Eileen's Emporium. Choose a metal section which is the narrower than the width of the rail.
The second photo shows such a dropper soldered to the underside of the rail foot... arranged to be close to the chair and to run down the side of the sleeper.
If you think that feed looks large...then remember that the sleeper is roughly 6mm wide and 3mm deep... then imagine how much of the metal strip is going to be visible after ballasting.
I use metal strip rather than scrap etch because filing etch to the required width can be a significant consumer of time - for example there are around ten droppers per metre of plain track and maybe a dozen in a typical turnout. The quoted number of droppers reflects model PW where the rails are cut to prototypical lengths, the corresponding numbers for track made with "longest" rail lengths is two for plain line and around five for turnouts.
regards, Graham
The second photo shows such a dropper soldered to the underside of the rail foot... arranged to be close to the chair and to run down the side of the sleeper.
If you think that feed looks large...then remember that the sleeper is roughly 6mm wide and 3mm deep... then imagine how much of the metal strip is going to be visible after ballasting.
I use metal strip rather than scrap etch because filing etch to the required width can be a significant consumer of time - for example there are around ten droppers per metre of plain track and maybe a dozen in a typical turnout. The quoted number of droppers reflects model PW where the rails are cut to prototypical lengths, the corresponding numbers for track made with "longest" rail lengths is two for plain line and around five for turnouts.
regards, Graham