Looking for advice

[Reddington]

Good Evening,

                         I’m entering my second year is this hobby and love it, My house is a little small so my layout is in the carport and is roughly 3mx2m and is mounted to movable wooden frame that I built.

My track works fine however I could of taken more time and done a better job. So tonight I watched some YouTube videos wow so many different opinions on track laying.

i use flexi track and pre wired fish plates and I’m happy with that dession 

my question are

1.Some people don’t agree with expansion gaps (should I use them as mines outside)

2 Some people solder there track together good idea or not?

3. On some videos they pinned track on the sides of the sleepers and some in the middle of the sleepers Which is best.?

 

thanks in advance 

Red

[walkingthedog]

Expansion gaps definitely. Soldering track together definitely not. Normal practice is to put track pins in the centre. Pre wired fishplates not ideal but if you are happy with them that is your vhoice.

[Chrissaf]

Just to really hammer home the point. Soldered fishplates joining rails together.....definitely not a good idea on so many levels.

[morairamike]

Solder the wires directly to the rails. Expansion gaps are adviseable, but the expansion is taken up by one rail sliding in the fishplates. One end is a tight fit the other is a push fit. The movement can cause a high resistance due to the small gap between the rail and the fishplate and corrosion can form and lead to high resistance which causes a volts drop and lowers the command voltage so trains don't run properly. Solder wires to the rails and connect them to a buss either by solder or use terminal blocks. Solder is my choice to fix the wires to the buss. It illiminate loose connections, BUT the solder joint must be a good joint, not what is  termed a dry joint, which is one where either the  surfsce was dirty or the heat didn't melt the solder sufficiently to bond the wire to the surface.

[LCDR]

Track exposed to the weather needs a little help with conductivity . On my garden railway I solder a soft copper junction wire between the rails on either side of the rail joint. This allows the rails to expand and contract but also improves the conductivity which can be affected by dirt and corrosion.

 

It is a little fiddly to do but reduces electrical problems. 

[Reddington]

Thanks for all the replys much appreciated 

[96RAF]

Just to add...

... although these pre-wired fishplates are undoubtably convenient, the main cause of unreliable track continuity is failure (by looseness) of the standard fishplates to pass power rail to rail, so these items are no real improvement over that in-built trait.

[Lyd 85B]

On your question about pinning flexitrack sleepers between the tracks or outside them, the method taught on the Peco Trackworks and Electrics course is the latter. I think it may give more stability to the track, but you can always email the question to their Technical Advice Bureau. Personally, I've used both methods and don't see any real difference. 

[2e0dtoeric]

If you solder a rail to a pin that is fixed to the baseboard, the rail cannot move as the temperature changes.

Eventually, in extremes - it will buckle in between soldered pins, or tear the pin out.

If you pin a sleeper to the board, the rail can slide in the 'chair'  and won't buckle.

-

I always use flexi-track, and arrange for a gentle 'wiggle' on long straights - which can act as an extra expansion joint, because the whole section can adjust the radius of the slight curve, as needed. On a curve, I pin the ends (by the sleepers) so the curve can move slightly in the middle, if needed. (We're talking of a couple of millimeters per metre length).