eastern-pheonix Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I am just embarking on my layout mark 3. The first two were not reliable. I am using peco 100 in the fiddle yard and code 75 in the scenic section. I have decided to do the frog modification this time. I have just seen in a post on here a reference to bonding rail joiners does this mean that to ensure good track continuity I should solder all the fish plates? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolute Aspects Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Yes, solder your joints. And always keep your track clean. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Careful here. If all the fishplates are soldered you won't have much tolerance for expansion and contraction. I would recommend that fishplates on curves be soldered but only to stop kinking. I can't see any harm in soldering fishplates on sidings. For DCC, conventional wisdom has it that the best way to reduce voltage drop around the layout is to solder dropper wires to each and every rail and to connect them to a bus under the layout. Electrofrog points give more reliable operation. Make sure you respect the isolation recommendations to avoid shorts. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted October 20, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 20, 2011 I just make sure the joiners are a tight fit and the rail end is clean before I fix them. If necessary I carefully crimp them with a small pair of pliers after laying the track if they are a bit loose. If you solder them you are preventing rail expansion in hot weather so it's better to add additional track feeds instead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 My point is that you should not rely on the fishplates to reliably conduct track voltage around the layout. Far better to use dropper wires for that. Over time fishplates and rail can become oxidised and fishplates can work themselves loose. On our old DC layout (now, thankfully, dead and buried) we would find that a loco on the far side of the layout would move only about half as fast as it did near the power supply. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I concur. Think of it in prototype terms - fishplates are for joining rails, not electrical circuits, which is why track-circuits have bonding wires across rail joints. Use dropper wires as suggested above, a little extra effort now can save a lot of annoyance later! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastern-pheonix Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Thanks for all you responses, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted October 23, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2011 You will find some people report that they have relied on fishplates and never had any trouble while others will report no end of problems. If is much easier to solder droppers on before all the track is laid and ballasted. I have never heard anyone say I wish I hadn't bothered with droppers.Remember if you are using electrofrog then when points are laid frog to frog you need insulated fishplates (or rail gaps) between them. Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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