Every section?

[rookie]

I wanted to know from you guys, when you lay regular track do you solder every 9 inch section? Do you solder then at all or do you just glue then to the roadbed? thanks

[ABC]

If you had flex-track you would not have to do as much, and there are less joints with which to lose conductivity.

[rookie]

ABC,
I do have some flex track. Do i take your advice to mean that i should solder every section whether it is 9 inch or 36 inch. I am leaning toward using more flex because it is less joining. Do you glue your track down also or nail it? thanks, david

[ABC]

I would just use flex track because of better conductivity and less derailments. Oh and my track is nailed down with Atlas HO track nails.

[Jim Banner]

One question that needs to be asked:
How long do you see your railroad being set up before you change the layout or take it down?  If you are looking at only a year or two, then there is no need to put feeders on every piece.  The joiners are generally good for at least five years or so before they start of fail.  It can be shorter, particularly if the humidity is high and particularly with steel track, but it can also be longer, particularly if the humidity is low and particularly with nickel silver track.

If you really don't know at this time how long your layout will stay the same, here is what I usually suggest:
DO NOT solder the sections together.
DO run bus wires under your layout table.  Use 12 or 14 gauge wire.
DO run feeder wires from your tacks to your bus wires.  Use #22 solid wire.
DO NOT space feeders more than 10 feet apart or more than 5 pieces of track apart.
DO solder the feeder wires to the rails and to the bus wires.

If you make changes to your railroad over time, you will be glad you did not solder all the sections of track together.  But if there are parts where you do not make changes, you may have rail joiners fail due to slow corrosion.  If/when that happens, it is too late to solder the joints because that same corrosion will prevent you from making a good solder joint.  But nothing will stop you from adding more feeders to the track sections that are not getting power.

There are two exceptions to these rules.  One exception is that you need to solder flex track joints if the track is going to be curved at those joints.  Note that the track must be straight when you solder those joints and then bent to the desired curve after you solder them.  The other exception is in tunnels.  There is no way to add feeders or solder joints after the track is covered over, so the best policy is to solder all the joints and add extra feeder before before you build a tunnel over the track.  If you have to have a turnout in a tunnel (not recommended but sometimes we do it anyway) be sure all three tracks from the turnout have feeders.  I am assuming "all routes live" turnouts.  These turnouts have internal bonds to keep all the routes powered but these bonds seem about 100 times more likely to fail once you put a tunnel over the turnout.  It's one of those Murphy things.

Flex track or sectional track - it is up to you.  I seem to accumulate a lot of pieces of sectional track so I use it freely mixed in with flex track.  I even mix conventional sectional track that has no base with sectional track with a base and mix them both with flex track.  The only trick is putting 1/4" cork under the baseless stuff.  Once you put ballast over it, you cannot tell the difference.  Make sure your rail joiners are tight and your joints smooth, then sit back and enjoy your trains.

Jim

p.s. When it comes to track, do not aim for fewer derailments.  Aim for NO derailments.  It can be done.  Start off by making the decision that derailments are not allowed on your railroad.  Then proceed accordingly.

[rookie]

Thanks Jim. By the way do you nail or glue your track down? Also, since you explain in detail for rookies, how do "you" isolate a section of track in order for a switcher to operate in a rail yard and keep the main engine from running at the same time? thanks,david

[THB-DAVE]

To Isolate a section of track-gap one or both rails, I prefer using a dremil tool rather than plastic rail connectors and run a feeder to the isolated section with a SPST (ON/OFF) switch in line.

Dave

[Doneldon]

Rook -

I'm with THB on cutting the track rather than fooling around with insulated rail joiners.  It's a lot easier, IMHO.  Also, I advise cutting both rails, but then you'll need a double pole single throw switch (DPST).  Do be sure that all four cut ends of your rail are securely attached to the roadbed so they don't drift around a little and cause derailments.

                                                                                --D

[Jim Banner]

When laying track with a built in base (like Bachamnn E-Z track) I use a bit of glue applied where the base meets the table or benchwork.  If the setup is temporary, I use just two dots of glue, one on each side, for each section.  This is enough to keep the track in place but it is still easy enough to pry it back up if necessary.  Later on, if I ever decide the track is really where I want it for a long time, I add more glue.  If the track is on plywood, I use hot glue but if it is on foam, I usually use foam board cement in a caulking cartridge.  

For track without a built in base, I usually glue down cork using white glue, specifically Weldbond.  I like working with a track centerline drawn on the table, so I lay one half of the cork just up to the centerline.  If needed, I hold it in place while the glue dries.  I use whatever is handy - bricks, small sand bags, sewing pins, track nails etc. but my favorite is a cable installers stapler that uses a funny looking staple with an omega shape in the middle for holding t.v. cable, phone wire, etc.  A few of these staples will hold the cork down and the loop in the middle makes them dead easy to remove.  When the glue has dried on the one half of the cork, I then lay down the other half of the cork.  Then I put the track sections and the flex track in place and hold them with a few Atlas track nails.  You have to be careful using these nails on track.  If you pound them in too far, you push the tie down into the cork which can bring the rails too close together at that point.  Ideally, you should be able to easily put a finger nail between the nail head and the top of the tie.  After you ballast the track, you can take the track nails out if you want to.  Up until then, it is still easy to pull the nails and move the track.  Moving the cork is another matter.  I usually scrape off the cork that I no longer want and put down new cork.

For insulated gaps, I keep some insulated rail joiners around for times when I know in advance that I need the gap.  But more often than not, I forget to put them in or for some other reason want to add a gap without taking up the track to use an insulated joiner.  Then I use a Dremel tool or an Atlas Hobby Saw to cut through the rail.  If you use a Dremel or other motor tool, be absolutely sure to wear eye protection.  It is very easy to shatter the thin cutting wheels and you really, really do not want pieces of it flying at high speed into your eyes.  To keep a Dremel tool cut from closing up, you can either fill the gap with a thick epoxy or slip a piece of .030 styrene in the gap and hold it in place with Crazy Glue.  Once the epoxy or glue has set, you can shape the gap filling material with a small file or a sharp knife.  Cutting the gaps with an Atlas Hobby Saw actually does a neater job.  Once you have cut through the rail, slip a small piece of ordinary writing paper or printer paper in the gap and soak it with Crazy glue.  Once the glue has set and you have trimmed off the excess paper, these thin gaps almost disappear.  If you have to cut a gap in a curved piece of flex track, there is a special procedure which will prevent the rail from springing sideways at the gap.  That is to glue the ties to the cork and the rail to the ties using Crazy Glue.  I like to do this for a couple inches on either side of where I want the gap.  Once the Crazy Glue is completely set (allowing it to set overnight is best) you can cut the gap, put in the paper, and soak it with glue.

Jim

[jward]

i prefer to nail the track down. why? when you lay track you'll probably have to work the bugs out and make some adjustments to get it working properly. this is especially true if using flex track around curves. you can always pull the nails and adjust things, but this is much harder to do with glued track. some people swear by glue, some swear at it.......

[jonathan]

Couldn't help but throw two cents more in the pot.

I have not soldered all my track sections, yet.  I'm glad I waited.  I have changed several areas of my layout.  It was much easier to remove the track sections around (nailed, not glued).  Now that things are getting more permanent, I have started soldering a joint here and a joint there.  By Jim's estimation, I have about 18 months to complete the soldering, before the rail joiners start to fail.

Thanks for putting me on the clock, Jim.  

Regards,

Jonathan

[Doneldon]

rookie-

I would suggest a standard which says don't solder unless there is a reason, regardless of track section length.  If your track is firmly attached to your roadbed, has good rail joiners and especially if you've used some conductive paste at the joints, you shouldn't need to solder your rails.  Also, be aware that you can have problems from soldering everything if you have temperature or humidity changes where your layout is located.  All soldered joints may lead to track separations, kinks and other woes.  Consider leaving a small space, say 1/16" between every several feet of track to allow for expansion to prevent this problem.  Maybe you'll decide to put feeders/rail joiners at such points or solder a very short jumper wire with a teensy bit of slack across the open space.

If you do have a reason to solder your joints, consider soldering the feeds to the railjoiners and using conductive paste.  That means you have a direct feed to the rail on both sides of the junction, and the soldered wire will be essentially invisible if you carefully attach it to the underside of the rail.  That's a little more difficult to do in the middle of a track section.  Whatever you do, don't solder feeders to the insides of the rails unless you are very careful to avoid obstructing the flangways.

Good luck with your layout.
                                                             --D