Do I need to wire both outside rails?

Nope, the metal ties and the trolley's wheels will do the job for you.

no you don't have to, just a good connection to one of the outside rails.

Steve, Lady and Tex

Thanks I wasn't sure and I really didn't want to solder more than i have to.

One more question, is there a color code for the wires. I have red and black and not sure which rail to connect the red.

Usual usage would be red would go to the center rail (the hot rail) and black would go to the outside rail. On the transformer, the red would go to the variable output, the black to the common terminal ie "negative". It doesn't really matter, just common convention.

Thanks, I thought there might be something like that, but I did not know which was considered the "Hot Rail".

I had a problem many years ago and found out that my transformer wasn't "in phase" with some accessories, but that was along time ago. I haven't had to wire track in some time now.

I always wire them both.  Pays to spend a little extra time and get a really solid connection. 

Hi Lee,

Well it is only 8ft long and I only have a bump-n-go trolley to run on it. I am going to connect a wire on each end just in case I have a bad track connection. Do you really think I should wire both side for this set up?

My layout is K-Line Tubular Shadow Rail Track, with plastic ties. I do wire both outside rails, with 14 GA Stranded Wire. I solder the wire to the tubular rails with 60/40 clear flux solder from Radio Shack®.

   I also use Lionel switches with the auto reverse system. What this does if the switch is set in the wrong position, it will automatically turn the switch to the correct position as a train enters the switch. To make this work, wires to the outside rails is a must.

   You have metal ties, so you should be OK with only one wire to the out side rail.

Great question for the Forum.

I have Gargraves Flex with wood ties so I have always wired both common rails. 

Thanks Joe, I went ahead and wired it yesterday with only one common side wired.

I did wire both ends of the track because I have a few track pieces with hollow pins and I don’t have time to order replacements so a couple of my joints are lose. I discovered it when I pulled the pins on an old O27 curve to reverse the curve direction and the pins collapsed.

I’m not sure how many there are because most of the track is brand new tubular and only a couple were loose. I had to mix a couple of 027 with the tubular to get the right configuration on such short notice.

If you look carefully at the track you show with the hollow pins, you will see the ties are lithographed with a woodgrain pattern. This woodgrain track is the only type that came with the hollow/rolled pins, and is from the early MPC period, maybe up to 1972-1973.

Why thank you very much Rob, that will save me some time figuring this out. I have a whole box of track that I bought from eBay that I need to go through it.

I have had lots of different 0-27 track variations in my life. I find those wood grainers  to be one of the prettiest, but worst in quality. Before Id put it down permanent, I would pull every hollow pin now, inspect hole for rust, insert a solid pin, maybe add a little conductive grease. Some are plated and tend to rust from the inside out. An extra wire to the other side wouldn't hurt, but the hollow pin connections are way more likely to fail. They can literally get red hot when they start to rust-fail too. Ive had the track plating chip, and flake off after soldering to it too. That said I do use it, but more carefully. 

Hmmm I just realized that my MTH RealTrax is only connected to one rail and there nothing tying the two together like in FastTrack. Well I’ve been running trains like this for at least 6  or 7 years without any problems that I know of so I guess I’ll continue for now. I just got lucky I guess. LOL

I did however get the color coding wrong when I first soldered them up. I had different colors of wire to work with at the time and don’t remember paying much attention. I actually managed to get red on some of the hot rails while others are mixed up with blues, orange and green.  

Well I’m going to have to check for shorts before hooking them up to the transformer for now and rewire it after I take it down in January for next year.  I just ordered new wire with red and black, but I don’t have time to do it now.

I only wire one of the outside rails as I use the other for signal blocks.  The only negative to that is you have to do a better job of keeping your track clean as you only will get a common on one of the rails.

Art

Oh! I didn't think of the cleaning aspect. That would be a big incentive for me to wire both sides. thanks Art

I solder 12 inch long 18 gauge solid insulated wires to both outside common rails and center(hot) rail because it is easier to solder solid than stranded wire to rail side. Then a short length, usually 1/2 inch, is removed from one of the common wires, the other common wire is wire twisted and soldered at this location, the free end of the skinned wire is butt spliced to either a 16 or 14 gauge stranded wire, the free end of this wire is soldered to the 12 gauge buss. The hot wire is butt spliced to 16 or 14 gauge wire that is routed and soldered to toggle switches for track power. Track used is Gargraves Phantom tin plate track with wood ties with no electrical continuity between the center and outside rails as purchased.

I attach wire to only one side, and here's why.  I figure the center rail current is picked up by only about half as many contacts anyway.  Two rollers VS 6-8-10 or more outside wheels to pick up the outside current.

I have about 23 ft of RealTrax on the outside with wires soldered to only the center and one outside rail. I didn’t do it consciously because I thought the outside rails were internally connected. Anyway I take the track apart every year and put it up. This year I didn’t pay attention to how I was assembling it and ended up putting some straight pieces with wires backwards causing both rails to be connected.

I’m not sure if that will make a difference in voltage drop or not because out of 5 track connections, it’s probably only one track that’s reversed.

Sleeper  - that still will give you a common on both tracks.  Good idea.

Hi JohnnyB, I usually drop down an 18 gauge wire to a larger buss wire 16-14 -12 gauge wire every 6 rail connections whether they are long tracks or short, and all leads and branches of each switch. It is much easier to do now than later. If you want to alternate outer rails is your choice.

Over the years I happily set up my friends Christmas layout in his Living room, approx. 4X16 with Fastrack. The track was stored in plastic containers every year. The single main started with only two connections the first year and each additional year we added two more connections due to the train slowing down away from the transformer connection until we had connections about every six to eight tracks from each other. He finally stopped setting up the layout when I moved away two years ago. With the six connection point your train IS ONLY 3 to 2 connections away from the transformer bus again easy enough when building the layout. You can draw your own conclusion from this experience, was it the pushing and pulling apart the track or oxidation that caused the need for additional connections? Most likely both, regards Rob

Thanks, I just cut up some 12” pigtails and soldered them on to my new FasTrack, but since it is FasTrack with the bus bar, I only soldered one side.

I’ve been storing my old Fastrack attached to the layout each year for about 8 years and it didn’t preserve very well. It’s rusted and just looks bad. I may buy some rust remover and try to clean it up.

Thanks superorob, I know what Evapo-Rust is because I’ve used it on rusty tools years ago. Before I throw any track away, I will give Evapo-Rust a try. I have a couple of 30” track pieces as well, but have to figure out how to soak something that long.

Johnny a wall paper tray comes to mind, good luck, regards Rob