Are you guys soldering Atlas 3-rail track, also, rail joiners, too?

never count on rail joiners to be reliable for power. always try to use feeders spaced around the layout.

I am laying in a section of Atlas track in addition to my current Ross track. The track will show connectivity and then lose it for no apparent reason. The test engine will run several loops and then quit - usually in the same 3 foot section of track.  I was counting on the rail joiners to keep connectivity, but that method does not appear to be reliable.  Feeds are a max of 6 feet apart, so I think that means I have to address the connectors themselves. I have a proclivity to melt the plastic ties before the solder melts - so I prefer not to solder on the Atlas rail.

Paul - Recently had occasion to solder to Atlas O track and had no problems - also wire soldered very easily to rail joiners for power connections - works great

Maybe should have mentioned - the green bridge wire is to connect ground to both outside rails on stub end whisker tracks in engine service area and will be under Atlas bumper

dorj2, that looks professional! Is the bottom pictures showing the Atlas rail joiners soldered to the wire or are those metal pieces custom of some sort? I am just getting started with Atlas...my basement layout is all Ross track and switches. I love the wooden ties of Ross and the spikes, but I always wanted to try Atlas solid rail which I think is Nickel Silver. I had terrible previous experience with MTH's solid rail Realtrax or Ritetrax, whatever they called it - I subsequently learned it had high zinc content which has moderate at best conductivity.

Sounds like original Lionel/Marx O/O27 track has at least one good feature:   metal track ties that connect the two outside rails.

Charlie

Paul - wires are soldered to the bottom of standard Atlas rail joiners - wanted to mimic the the wired joiners you can buy / used the same color code as Atlas

Thx - Joe S

Also - I did use a Dremel with a wire brush on the black joiners - just enough to remove the black plating on the area I was going to solder to

Thx again

Roger-that! How did you put back the rail joiner after soldering wire to it? On my Atlas track that I just bought, I am seeing a plastic barrier that would need to be cut away in order for the rail joiner with wire to be put back on. I hope I described that right...I could take a picture of the bottom of the track to show the plastic thing.

You’re right Paul - you have to remove the inside  leg (or all ) of the plastic clip that joins the next track section - I use an xacto chisel blade  - works well - the blade is sitting on the piece that needs to be removed / cut off

One of the early Eric’s Trains videos about Atlas O track describes this

Good Luck

Joe S

Has anyone ever drilled small holes in the bottom of the Atlas O rail and soldered on a tinned wire?

I has seen this done with O Scale 2 Rail track

@EMD posted:

Has anyone ever drilled small holes in the bottom of the Atlas O rail and soldered on a tinned wire?

I has seen this done with O Scale 2 Rail track

Nope. Our whole layout was Atlas solid nickel silver track. I had an old Dremel with a pointed rotary file bit, and used it to remove any/all coating on the rails. I soldered EVERY SINGLE RAIL JOINT. In fact, we had to solder 3 or 4 sections of that Atlas flex track together, and took 5 guys to bend that into place! Without soldering each and every rail joint, the daened stuff would kink, and bend the rail joiners. Thus, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was soldered together on the entire layout.

Power drops were all soldered to the inside, i.e. away from the viewer, of each rail. Later rail gaps were cut with a razor saw. No electrical problems!

Guys, is it feasible to solder the rail joiners themselves to each piece of track? Am looking at the rail joiners right now in my office...so solder would be applied to each end of rail joiner - that would be 6 soldered points on each track connection. Seems a lot but maybe prudent? This would be in lieu of doing the old-fashioned way, where we solder wires to the rails themselves.

And how many feeders are you all doing? With Ross/Gargraves, the rule of thumb as I recall was a feeder every 3-4 track connections. But from what I am reading here, the rail joiners are not good for conducting electricity, so maybe a feeder every 3-4 feet?

Also, Hot Water, why did you cut rail gaps - was that for DCS optimal ops or for block control?

@Paul Kallus posted:

Guys, is it feasible to solder the rail joiners themselves to each piece of track?

Yes.

Am looking at the rail joiners right now in my office...so solder would be applied to each end of rail joiner - that would be 6 soldered points on each track connection. Seems a lot but maybe prudent? This would be in lieu of doing the old-fashioned way, where we solder wires to the rails themselves.

Just my opinion but, you are overthinking this. Just properly clean the ends of every rail, then clean the inside of each rail joiner, and solder the whole darn thing together!

And how many feeders are you all doing? With Ross/Gargraves, the rule of thumb as I recall was a feeder every 3-4 track connections. But from what I am reading here, the rail joiners are not good for conducting electricity, so maybe a feeder every 3-4 feet?

My rail feeders were about every 5 or 6 feet.

Also, Hot Water, why did you cut rail gaps - was that for DCS optimal ops or for block control?

Yes.

Roger-that, Hot Water. How did you clean the inside of the rail joiners - with a q-tip maybe and alcohol?

I watched the GLA DVD of your layout a few weeks ago...had seen it a couple of years ago...very neat how you designed everything for function, and great modeling!

@Paul Kallus  Paul as far as I understand the rail joiners are meant to conduct electricity. Most of my Atlas loop runs perfectly fine using only the joiners plus  joiner wire feeds shown previously. I have drops wherever there are switches.  Part of the (my)  issue is using "used" joiners which may fit rather sloppy. Put them on a roadbed that flexes a bit and the movement causes the electrical connection to open randomly. (I'll fix the roadbed issue later.)  But with a large layout, I would be inclined to solder all the joints so there will be one less thing to check.

Good question on cleaning the inside of the joiners especially the blackened ones. Maybe it does not matter as long as there is a solder connection between the rails

@ScoutingDad posted:

Good question on cleaning the inside of the joiners especially the blackened ones. Maybe it does not matter as long as there is a solder connection between the rails

If you've actually jumpered the joint with a physical soldered wire, the rail joiner is just a structural member to keep the rails aligned.  Clearly it wouldn't have any measurable effect to clean it.

Started looking closely at my Atlas joiners, some of the blackened joiners have no dimple on the bottom, most others do. The dimple certainly holds tighter to the rails. Amazing the things that can be learned by looking around and comparing.

Good points made above.

I really like the solid rails of this Atlas track; what I don't like so much are the plastic ties. Also, I kind of feel like a traitor going with Chinese made track as I've always used US made Ross and Gargraves - and I love the wooden ties and spikes that Ross have. I figured most of our trains are now made in China...but I still feel funny - that's my age and generation talking. Atlas is roughly around twice the price of Ross, though I suppose we're getting more metal due to solid rails, and I've heard the need to clean Atlas track is reduced over tubular. Have you guys done anything to take the shine out of the plastic ties? I suppose if they're buried in ballast it's not so big of a deal but this project is going to be mostly bridge conveyance and ballast won't be an option. I usually countersink No. 4x3/4" screws into wooden ties...but the Atlas ties are supposedly scale and I am not confident I can countersink a screw into them.