I soldered my rails together

nygma

nygma

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I thought I am a garden railway expert and there is no need to read the PECO instruction. So I started laying my track and soldered my gauge 1 flexis together right on the fishplate. So far 15 of them. I just read the instructions before throwing them to the bin. What can I do now? Nothing has been fixed yet, but I am planning to bolt the rails down and and also glue the ballast.
Oh and the punchline that I live in Hungary, temperature today was 35C and it goes down to -15C in the winter.
 
nygma said:
I thought I am a garden railway expert and there is no need to read the PECO instruction. So I started laying my track and soldered my gauge 1 flexis together right on the fishplate. So far 15 of them. I just read the instructions before throwing them to the bin. What can I do now? Nothing has been fixed yet, but I am planning to bolt the rails down and and also glue the ballast.
Oh and the punchline that I live in Hungary, temperature today was 35C and it goes down to -15C in the winter.
Click to expand...

One suggestion -
http://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-did-i-bond-rails.html < Link To http://riksrailway.blogsp...-did-i-bond-rails.html

or you could use rail clamps
http://www.glendalejunction.co.uk/Hillman.html Rik
 
Regards de-bonding rails. Use something to act as a heat sink either side of the fishplate joint (mini clamping pliers) to protect the plasic sleepers and re-apply a powerful soldering tool to the fishplate joint to release it, then clean up. Or you could cut the rail insitu just behind the fishplate using a fine hacksaw or small "Dremel" type cut-off wheel.

Relaying, lots of methods. I have my trackbed at ground level and use the "floating" method of laying the track directly on the balast and "pining" straight to the earth every metre or so with 10/15cm nails. All rail/fishplate joints are treated with LGB graphite paste, or similar, to protect against corrosion to ensure long term electrical conductivity. I use rail clamps, Hillman, as my track is on an incline and can get "hammered" apart by large locos. The clamps also help to ensure long term electrical conductivity and maintain the integrity of the track formation. Possibly the Peco system is too light for this method and I am not sure about rail-clamp availability for Peco. I use LGB code 332 rail.

My track has been laid this way for 8 years, allowing easy layout modifications, with only minimal maintainance requirements and no electrical problems. Temperatures here + 30C /-12C. Lots of other sugestions will be along shortly;).

Max
 
Now I know what I should have done. Most probably the easiest method would be to cut the rails and reattach them with fishplate. I know I need wire loop for conductivity.
I guess my real question is: has anyone used long sections of continuously soldered rails together? Rail expansion and contraction is really such a big issue? Would it damage the ties and fastening if it is left like this?
 
yes
 
Hi the old way , to un solder a joint , is to use the mesh found in coax cable, cut into about 20mm bits ,soak in flux lay along joint and heat up with iron solder is pulled to mesh -remove mesh while still hot with a cocktail type stick hope this helps regards Dave
 
Why not solder them? I used to solder mine at the fishplates with no problems due to expanding. Now I use screws through the plates and rails essentially the same thing but mechanical so it's easier to undo when I need to move something.
 
Find out what the expansion rate [ linear coefficient ? ] of the rail, I presume it's nickle silver, then you will know how much you need to de- solder / cut or leave with sliding expansion joints.

Shaun
 
Expansion and contraction is exactly the same issue no matter what gauge or size of rail you use. It's the length that is showing the expansion, a mile is still a mile, a yard is still a yard. The only thing that will make a difference is the type of metal.
 
My track is all soldered, PCB sleepers soldered to brass rail, bras rail soldered together over a wide sleeper. The sections of track that are isolated are cut through with a cut off wheel in a rotary tool and part way through the fibreglass of the sleeper.Tto make repairs even more difficult most of my track is entombed in cobblestones or paved roadway..... I hope nothing ever goes wrong, its gunna be a real bugga to have to dig it up for repairs.
 
Is this astraight section or curved. I think you might get away with it as is if there are a couple of curves to allow the track to move sideways a bit. The Aristocraft screws and various makes of track clamp must make expansion movement very difficult yet loads of people seem to use them with no problems.
 
If you're really worried, buy some fishplates and cut the track midway between the soldered joints and re-join. :bigsmile::bigsmile:

I thought you'd done something terrible at first :laugh::laugh:
 
bobg said:
Expansion and contraction is exactly the same issue no matter what gauge or size of rail you use. It's the length that is showing the expansion, a mile is still a mile, a yard is still a yard. The only thing that will make a difference is the type of metal.
Click to expand...
1/155000th of its length per degree fahrenheit for steel springs to mind.
 
LNERGE said:
bobg said:
Expansion and contraction is exactly the same issue no matter what gauge or size of rail you use. It's the length that is showing the expansion, a mile is still a mile, a yard is still a yard. The only thing that will make a difference is the type of metal.
Click to expand...
1/155000th of its length per degree fahrenheit for steel springs to mind.
Click to expand...

Even then it depends on the grade of steel, but yes, something of that order. A few thou per foot adds up when converted to yards etc.

Nothing to 'worry' about, just something to consider. Curves will help alleviate the problem as they move in and out.

I have trouble on one longish straight section where the sun (???) creeps along it each day. All the gaps get pushed up to one end.
 
So with all the gaps at one end, your track is shorter on a sunny day than on a cold day. The laws of physics are not immutable. :D
 
Remember the definition of an expert?
Ex = A ?has been?
Spurt = A ?drip under pressure?
 
playmofire said:
So with all the gaps at one end, your track is shorter on a sunny day than on a cold day. The laws of physics are not immutable. :D
Click to expand...

When every axle bounces at the 'morning' end of the straight you know it's time to work the rails back again. The gap gets to over 1/4", but then I do like to leave reasonable gaps when I lay the track, and I do tack the sleepers down perhaps a bit more than necessary.
 
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