Hope this is the right forum. I want to temporarily wire my tracks together for my Christmas layout this year, i.e. no soldering, How can I do this? I have seen some Lionel tracks have jumper wires on the bottom that just clip in, I am thinking something similar, does anyone know how I go about making these, what materials I need etc. I have an L-Shaped layout that is about 10'X10'.
Thank you in advance.
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Sections of Fastrack ("FT") have both positive (center rail) and negative (outer rail) tabs underneath. They also have little "notches" in the plastic that make it easier to connect wire from section to section. You will need to purchase a bunch of 14-16 gauge .110 connectors like the ones in the link below to make the connections - they may be available cheaper on ebay or amazon.. You will also need stranded wire (14 gauge should do it) which you will have to cut to the appropriate lengths in order to string the sections together. I use a roll of red for the center rail and black for the outer rail. The connectors are crimped to the wires and then slip over the FT tabs.
Time consuming, but effective.
The pin connection between fastrack sections should be sufficient for good electrical connection. If the connection is poor, you can simply bend the pins slightly using pliers, which will improve any loose connections. This way, you will reduce the number of connections between the track and the transformer. I have about 10 track sections between connections to the transformer.
However, connecting all the track together will also work. You may still need more than one connection between the transformer and the track, depending on the length of your loop.
There are thinned sections in the ribbing that can easily be trimmed out with an x-acto or utility knife. The straight power sections already have a clean hole in the side if you wanted to run a second feed across the middle. Or you can use a cheap soldering iron to cleanly melt an arch into any piece.
I think you want .110 female spades. I had to order mine but they weren't expensive.
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