ceejaydee
Western Thunderer
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?
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?