Flat-bottom rail fish plates

[Jamesb]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently in the process of building my first layout in about 10 years. The general setting is in the Black Country, mid to late 80s. I'm modelling in 00 and using C&L finescale flexi track. I want to use a combination of wooden sleepers, bullhead rail and flat bottom, concrete sleepered rail. For the bullhead sections I've used Peco SL-114 bullhead fish plates which slide nicely on to the C&L rail. 

 

I want a transition point to replicate a recently replaced section of line with flat bottom, concrete sleeper track but I can't seem to find any suitable fish plates/rail joiners. 

 

My question is this; are there any conductive code 75 fish plates/rail joiners on the market which have a reasonably realistic appearance (like the Peco bullhead ones) or am I looking at soldering the flat bottom section to the bullhead and going with cosmetic fish plates? As you can see from the attached picture, there is quite a difference in size and appearance between the two types of conductive fish plates!

 

Thanks, James

[Grovenor]

The short answer is NO. No-one AFAIK is selling transition fishplates, if you want a good appearance the only available solution is to use cosmetic etched fishplates that can be soldered or glued in place. The correct size of flatbottom rail for this is code 82 or 83 not code 75.

[Jamesb]

Thanks for the reply Grovenor. In this scenario then, would it be good practice to solder the two rail ends together? Ie the ends of the flat-bottomed section to the bullhead and then use cosmetic fish plates after that? 

 

Thanks, James.

[YesTor]

8 hours ago, Jamesb said:

In this scenario then, would it be good practice to solder the two rail ends together? Ie the ends of the flat-bottomed section to the bullhead and then use cosmetic fish plates after that? 

 

Thanks, James.

 

Hi James

 

I wouldn't have thought so.  Instead of soldering the ends of the rails you'd be better off simply creating wire droppers, ie. solder one end of a length of wire to the underside of your bullhead rail, pass the wire through a pre-drilled hole in your baseboard, then pass the wire back up through a second hole adjacent to the other side of your joint and solder to the underside of your flatbottom section - so effectively you have an invisible wire 'bridge' between your two sections of track.  This will not only prove to be a far more reliable join, and if soldered discreetly will be a far more visually appealing solution.  Finally of course, add your cosmetic fishplates for realism.

 

Best

Al

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by YesTor

[uax6]

I'm sure that there is a proper P-way solution to this which would give you the proper answer, as in real life you do get bullhead welded to flatbottom, but I'm guessing that the sleepers at the transition would have to be either concrete under the bullhead or timber under the flatbottom.

Whichever sleeper you decide to go with, there needs to be four sleepers the same around the weld (so two sleepers each side of the weld the same). I only discovered this recently as there was a weld introduced outside the box where there was one timber on one side of the weld and two the other side. The weld had to be clamped until another timber sleeper was introduced to make it 2 on each side.

 

An interesting detail that isn't modelled often...

 

Andy G

 

[Jamesb]

10 hours ago, YesTor said:

 

Hi James

 

I wouldn't have thought so.  Instead of soldering the ends of the rails you'd be better off simply creating wire droppers, ie. solder one end of a length of wire to the underside of your bullhead rail, pass the wire through a pre-drilled hole in your baseboard, then pass the wire back up through a second hole adjacent to the other side of your joint and solder to the underside of your flatbottom section - so effectively you have an invisible wire 'bridge' between your two sections of track.  This will not only prove to be a far more reliable join, and if soldered discreetly will be a far more visually appealing solution.  Finally of course, add your cosmetic fishplates for realism.

 

Best

Al

 

Thanks Al, that is a great suggestion.

 

James

[dasatcopthorne]

Soldering rail ends together in a butt joint won't work.

 

At the first instance of a drop in temperature the joint will fail.

 

Don't bother.

 

Dave.