Page 23 - All Scale Rails Magazine Issue 4 September October 2015

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Most model railroaders at some point in time will face the task of soldering, usually electrical
wires to track or soldering the track joints together. It can seem daunting if you’ve never done
it before or haven’t done it for a while. Once you’re familiar with all the parts, you’ll be more
comfortable to take on more advanced projects.

First thing you need to know is that there are different types of soldering irons and soldering
guns. Some have a higher wattage and some have digital controls, for example. There are also
different types of solder with different melt temperatures. They come in different thicknesses
and are made from different metals.

Also, you’ll need to make sure that you have the right type of flux for your wiring job as well.
You’ll need the flux for electrical as some other types are acidic and corrosive and not benefi-
cial for soldering electrical wires.

Safety, as always, is the most important thing. Make sure you never touch your hot soldering
iron to your hands or to any surface. The soldering process may be messy, so never do any sol-
dering on or over any surface that you don’t want speckled in shiny silver metal or sticky flux.

Knowing the correct way to solder your rail joiners in your track is essential to creating a stable
base for your layout. Over time, your rail joiners will corrode, creating an interruption in the
electrical current. There are various reasons why soldering your rail joiners is a good idea.
First, because the solder applied to the rail joiners creates a more permanent electrical bond.
Second, soldering your rail joiners keeps your rails from pulling apart and getting out of align-
ment. Also, we are going to cover how to solder your electrical wires to your track. This ap-
plies only to two rail track.

Soldering the Rail Joint

Once you have secured your track to your base
and your rail joiners have been inserted be-
tween your pieces of track, it’s time to solder

them in. Make sure to plug in your soldering
iron so that is hot when it comes time to use it.
Always be careful not to touch the hot solder-
ing iron.

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