Putting C55 rail on a Walthers N Scale Turntable Bridge

[sschnabl]

I have the 130 ft. Walthers turntable, and it looks like the bridge comes with C70 rail.  Since the rest of my layout is built with C55 ME rail, I would like to change that out so it matches.  It appears that the rail is held in place by plastic "spikes" that could easily slide out.  The only issue is that there is a wire soldered to the outside of each rail to power them.  I'm wondering how difficult it would be to unsolder these rails and install my own C55 rails.  Has anyone done this before?  Are there any techniques I should be aware of?  I'm hesitant to take my hot soldering iron and put it so close to all that plastic.  One slip and I've got one ugly bridge deck and damaged railings on my hands.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

[C855B]

Honestly? I'd go with C40 rail, which would be closer to prototype. Doesn't solve the problem with removing the C70, however, but while you're at it...

[Lemosteam]

Depending on the amount of excess wire, you might be able to snip it off the old rails cleanly maybe file a little and then you will only have to resolder once on each rail.

Hopefully the "spike heads" holding the rails won't cause an issue with your locomotive wheels.

[sschnabl]

I thought about C40 rail, only after I had purchased all of my C55 flex and had my C55 Fast Tracks fixtures.  And like Lemosteam mentioned, the spike heads might interfere with some flanges, especially on C40 rail.  Anyway, I will probably give it a go this weekend and see what I can do.  I'm wondering if I put down a damp cloth over the deck and the railings to protect it from the soldering iron...  I will let you know how it goes.

Scott

[peteski]

I guess the success of your soldering job will depend on the type of soldering iron you have, solder flux, and your skill level. 

As others mentioned, you could just snip the wore off the original rail, and if you clean and tin the solder joint areas on the new piece of rail before installing it and the bare wire ends, you would be able to make the solder joint much faster (don't forget to use extra flux even if your solder has a flux core).

Using damp cloth is also a good idea.

As an alternative, you could take the bridge apart, unsolder the power feed wires on the other side, then solder the wires to the rails before sliding them into the bridge, and finally soldering the wires where they belong inside the bridge. Ans yes, reassemble the bridge. This totally avoids having to worry about melted ties or railings.

[C855B]

Mine's still in the box it's been in for at least six years, given it's destined for the last phase of the layout build.

But I moved said box around in cleaning-up yesterday, so I know where it is. I should take a close look at what it's going to take for the rail change-out since that is definitely in the long-range planning. Thanks for the inspiration!

[robert3985]

I'm planning on eventually replacing my Walthers turntable trackage with Code55 since all of my "heavily trafficked" trackage is done with Rail Craft Code55 flex, with sidings, my branchline yard and industrial spurs in hand-laid Code40.

I like the rail size difference, even though Code55 rails are a bit too tall, and Code40 rails are a bit too short for mainline UP rails in the Big Boy era...so, it's all a compromise.

Frankly, the rail height is the least noticeable flaw in N-scale trackage, with tie size, tie spacing, oversized and totally incorrect spikehead & tieplate details being MUCH more obvious than mere rail height...at least between Code55, Code40 and even Code70 rails.

Since I haven't had my turntable out of its box for several years, I can't remember how the rails are held to the bridge, but, I was planning on using ME Code55 Bridge Track for the conversion, even if I had to do major surgery to the bridge.

Using flex makes soldering feeders to the underside of the rails easy since you can slide the ties on and off of the rails and not have to worry at all about overheating anything whilst soldering.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[jdcolombo]

Why, exactly, do you want Code 55 rail?

If it is because of aesthetic reasons (you think the Code 70 rail doesn't "look right"), then, OK, go for it.

If it is for operational reasons, it is not necessary.  I simply shimmed the code 55 rails where they are glued to the turntable pit surround to bring them to the same height as the bridge track.  Some .015 styrene strip, CA'd to the underside of the rails and trimmed to rail width, works fine, and once you properly weather everything, the shim will disappear.

John C.

[sschnabl]

For me, it is the look.  I do like the C55 better than the C70.  My last layout I used Peco C55, so there I actually had to file the bottoms of the Peco track down a bit to have a smooth transition, so shimming the ME track is always an option if I am not confident.

Scott

[wm3798]

I recall making the swap on mine, but I can't for the life of me remember how I did it.



As I recall, there may have been some un-soldering of contacts before I could slip the rails out, but it may have been some sort of contact spring.  I did have to go in and do some wiring, but that may have been for the running lights I installed.

Lee

[sschnabl]

Well, the surgery was a success!  I went with the original plan of placing damp cloths over the hand rails and plastic bridge deck.  Thankfully I did because I did have one instance where the iron touched the cloth that was covering the hand rails.  Anyway, one thing I realized was that it would be a good idea to use one of those solder-suckers to remove the blob of solder left on the rail.  Since that solder covers the foot of the rail, it can make it challenging to slide it out without damaging the spikes that hold the rail in place.

Thanks for all the input.

Scott

[peteski]

Solder sucker does come in handy, but most of the time simple solder wick works pretty well.  But always remember to add some flux (even if it states that flux is not necessary).   It is also relatively inexpensive and no cleanup is needed after use.

[mike_lawyer]

Well, the surgery was a success!  I went with the original plan of placing damp cloths over the hand rails and plastic bridge deck.  Thankfully I did because I did have one instance where the iron touched the cloth that was covering the hand rails.  Anyway, one thing I realized was that it would be a good idea to use one of those solder-suckers to remove the blob of solder left on the rail.  Since that solder covers the foot of the rail, it can make it challenging to slide it out without damaging the spikes that hold the rail in place.

Thanks for all the input.

Scott

Scott, I am in the exact same position as you are, using ME Code 55 track and installing a Walthers 130 foot turntable.  To replace the track on the bridge with Code 55 track, do you just have to unsolder the contacts to the middle of the rails, and then the rails slide out?  Or do you need to do anything else?

Mike

[sschnabl]

Mike,

That's really about it.  I just had to be really careful not to touch the hot iron to any of the delicate hand rails or plastic bridge deck.  And as mentioned, a solder wick would be a wise choice to remove the solder from the rail.  The rail will slide out much easier this way, and those spikes that hold the rail in gauge will have less of a chance of getting damaged in the process.

Good luck!

Scott

[mike_lawyer]

I successfully completed this surgery, I had some ME C55 rail that I installed.  Solder braid is a must to unsolder the wire feeders.  Once the wire feeders are de-soldered, it was easy to slide the C80 rails out and slide the C55 rails in place.