Fitting droppers to O Gauge track

[jamie92208]

I'm about to start track laying on my new O Gauge layout (Lancaster Green Ayre). I intend to fit droppers to the underside of the rails so that they don't show on the outside of the rail. My boards are 5' long and I intend to fix the ends to the heads of brass screws at the baseboard joints so that the alignment stays correct. From experience with Long Preston I will allow a 1/8" expansion gap in the centre of each board. Expansion has proved to be a problem at shows as the layout is stored in an unheated shed, and by the Sunday afternoon in a warm hall things start to move on the longer boards.

 

What is the best way to fit droppers. I was vaguely thinking of cutting the web, drilling a small hole in the rail base and soldering some 1mm brass wire in. Then making a 4mm hole in the baseboard so that the dropper can move with expansion and the rail is only held at the baseboard joint. I presume that I will have to be careful when ballasting.

 

Can anyone suggest a better way of doing this or forsee problems with this scheme.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jamie

[Jordan-Leeds]

I'm about to start track laying on my new O Gauge layout (Lancaster Green Ayre). I intend to fit droppers to the underside of the rails so that they don't show on the outside of the rail. My boards are 5' long and I intend to fix the ends to the heads of brass screws at the baseboard joints so that the alignment stays correct. From experience with Long Preston I will allow a 1/8" expansion gap in the centre of each board. Expansion has proved to be a problem at shows as the layout is stored in an unheated shed, and by the Sunday afternoon in a warm hall things start to move on the longer boards.

 

What is the best way to fit droppers. I was vaguely thinking of cutting the web, drilling a small hole in the rail base and soldering some 1mm brass wire in. Then making a 4mm hole in the baseboard so that the dropper can move with expansion and the rail is only held at the baseboard joint. I presume that I will have to be careful when ballasting.

 

Can anyone suggest a better way of doing this or forsee problems with this scheme.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jamie

 

 

Now im relitively new to 0 gauge but on all other layouts ive put the droppers on the fishplates solded to the flat side and then ballasted up to them this worked quite well

[96701]

Now im relitively new to 0 gauge but on all other layouts ive put the droppers on the fishplates solded to the flat side and then ballasted up to them this worked quite well

 

The only thing that I can think of the downside of this method is that the connection between the rail and the fishplate is relied on.

[iploffy]

Hi Jamie

 

As for the droppers,what I have done is bend the wire 90 degrees and soldered a short lenth approx 5 mm to the bottom of the rail.the wire is then soldered near to the end of the lenth of track so it acts as a sort of fixed location when inserted into the boards so any expansion happens on the free end if you continue to do this all the way through out your layout the rail should not move that far.

 

Ian

[jamie92208]

Thanks for both those ideas. I like the idea of bending the wire, it sounds easier than drilling the rail. I'll then run a bus bar of some kind underthe rails to take the current. I'll try and post some photos when I've done it. Hoepfully track laying should start in April.

 

Jamie

[Donw]

Dick Dimmock had problems with his outdoor layout where the ballast had been set hard with yatch varnish. The droppers had been run straight down before ballasting. With the changein temperature the rails moved somewhat and fractured the joints. Solution was to put a small amount of slack in to allow for movement. For an indoor layout you could set a small piece of tube ( plastic, brass, drinking straw? ) to finish flush with the sleepers and run the wire through that . Plug it with grey plasticine to hide.

If you solder the droppers to the fishplates be careful ballasting. I am helping sort out the electrics on a Z gauge layout and have found that the PVA has run into the fishplates and they do not make electrical contact.

Donw

[jamie92208]

Dick Dimmock had problems with his outdoor layout where the ballast had been set hard with yatch varnish. The droppers had been run straight down before ballasting. With the changein temperature the rails moved somewhat and fractured the joints. Solution was to put a small amount of slack in to allow for movement. For an indoor layout you could set a small piece of tube ( plastic, brass, drinking straw? ) to finish flush with the sleepers and run the wire through that . Plug it with grey plasticine to hide.

If you solder the droppers to the fishplates be careful ballasting. I am helping sort out the electrics on a Z gauge layout and have found that the PVA has run into the fishplates and they do not make electrical contact.

Donw

 

That sounds good advice. Expansion is a problem at exhibitions, rail gaps across baseboard joints close up cn cause shorts. I am also wary of using the fishplates and want to have a feed to each individual piece of rail to ensure continuity and good running. In pointwork with short lengths there is no problem and I will probably use brass screws to solder the rail to and then tag the wires to the other end underneath the baseboard. It's the long lengths of plain rail that concern me and I like the idea of the bent wire soldered to the underside. I will make sure that there is room for movement.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Having made a start on construction (See the Lancaster Green Ayre thread), I have settled on a type of dropper. The boards are mainly 5' long so each board has at least two pieces of track on it. These are being anchored at the baseboard ends to 1" No 8 Brass screws. I then leave a gap of around 3mm where two lengths join with fishplates. I then put a 1" no4 Brass screw under the rail either in the centre of the rail length or near a baseboard end. These go far enough through the basebaord for me to solder wires to them. After the glue has set and the weights removed the rails are soldered to the screws and then the bits of the screw head that shows is ground off with a grinding disc. For test purposes I am using croccodile clips to feed the track.

 

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions. Only time and experience at exhibitions when the layout ahs been in a cold shed for a few months will show whether the system works.

 

Jamie

[two tone green]

My thoughts on this is, and I'm only just getting going on outdoor O is that, if you solder to the fishplate, with possible corrosion, high resistance occurring between the rail and fishplate due to what ever contamination, direct contact / soldering to the rail makes more sense.

 

It then gets over any contact, high resistance issues at fishplates straight away. The power needs to be in the track, the fishplates are nice to have for continuity but for me are primarily for alignment, expansion joints.

[jamie92208]

My thoughts on this is, and I'm only just getting going on outdoor O is that, if you solder to the fishplate, with possible corrosion, high resistance occurring between the rail and fishplate due to what ever contamination, direct contact / soldering to the rail makes more sense.

 

It then gets over any contact, high resistance issues at fishplates straight away. The power needs to be in the track, the fishplates are nice to have for continuity but for me are primarily for alignment, expansion joints.

 

Those were my thoughts and painful experience on my current layout, during shows at least one fishplate fails electrically every show, that's why I've gone for a direct connection to each piece of rail via the 1" No 4 screw and then solder up under the baseboard.

 

Jamie