ME C55 Rail Joiners

[Seligman Sub]

I’m finally getting my butt out of the armchair to start learning skills and techniques to eventually build a sectional layout that I can store in my garage when not in use. So I’ve been building practice modules on foam board to work on scenery techniques but these are about 30” long hence don’t need more than one piece of flex track to fit across the module. Right now I’m working on a much bigger module that will require more than one piece of flex track.

I’m using ME code 55 concrete ties flex and have ME code 55 rail joiners. If I had hair I’d pull it out because they’re impossible to work with. Waaay too tight and very difficult to get them to loosen up without damaging them. I’ve tried chamfering a extra piece of rail, I’ve tried using a jeweler’s screw driver but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it. Any tips or alternatives to try? I was thinking about trying Atlas’s rail joiners but wanted to see what advice the brain trust has here first.

Many thanks
Brad 

[ednadolski]

Make sure you file any/all burrs off the rail bases (something to do w/any kind of track anyway).   Some folks make a spreading tool from a filed piece of rail stuck into the end of a dowel.

Remember, tight is good, so the joints stay properly aligned over time

Ed

[C855B]

... I’m using ME code 55 concrete ties flex and have ME code 55 rail joiners. If I had hair I’d pull it out because they’re impossible to work with. Waaay too tight and very difficult to get them to loosen up without damaging them. ...

Agree with everything you've said. My layout is all about ME Code 55 (also C40) and the ME joiners are very tight. Honestly, too tight to use routinely. When I do use them, I flare each end with an X-Acto, using the blade to start then pushing halfway on with a jeweler's-sized needlenose pliers (and NOT the knife!). Then I mash the flares with a needlenose. All in all still frustrating, but functional. As Ed alluded, I love the mechanical stability of these extra-tight joins, but that's a lot of work with a high "oops" factor.

However, in a nutshell, I've given up on general use and now use Atlas joiners, but with a couple of twists not all will agree with - I cut them in half. Not to "save money", but to reduce the visual bulkiness. Then I solder on an every-other-joint basis, each soldered pair of flex having its own power feed. This has worked in the three(?) years the layout has been operable, whether it's still good for 10 years from now we'll only find out then.

In a full disclosure, I have noted in instances where I haven't connected the feeder to the main bus, consequently relying solely on non-soldered joiners to carry the load, there has been some reduction in power transmission. This is especially if I have been too lazy and let this "temporary" arrangement fester past three or four of the "loose" joints. Always solved by connecting the feeder leads to the bus, shame on me for not doing it right in the first place.

[robert3985]

I've used hundreds of ME C55 railjoiners for decades, but as with all other brands of railjoiners, I don't see any reason, particularly for stiff ME flextrack, for the railjoiner to be so long and have that sharp little "tongue" on either end.

(1) I solder every rail joint, for only the mechanical alignment that soldering with a silver bearing solder and using a tight ME C55 rail joiner give me since my layout is portable...meaning it gets jarred around much more than a layout that's not going to travel in a large UHaul trailer, and in the back of my 3/4 ton Suburban.

(2) I attach a feeder to each and every piece of rail on my layout, near the middle, so those thin little railjoiners, being made from very unconductive Nickel Silver, aren't relied on for anything electrical.

(3) However, they don't have to be as long as they are...not nearly.  I snip the deadly little "tongues" off of each end with my sharp flush cutter, and mount an ME C55 railjoiner on a scrap piece of ME C55 rail that I've chamfered the end, so the joiner will slide on as easily as it can. 

(4) Using my sharp flush cutters, I cut two, maybe three short rail joiners from one normal sized rail joiner, cutting through both the mounted rail joiner and the rail it's mounted on at the same time so the rail joiner isn't crushed, each short rail joiner being the length (or a bit shorter) than the space between ME C55 ties.

(5) I dress the joiner ends, both when they're still mounted on the scrap rail and when they're off, with fine jeweler's files and a fine sanding disk on my Dremel.  You can figure out how to do it.  Sliding the rail joiner back on the rail also gets rid of some of the burrs.

(6) I also dress the ends of the rails they're going to slide on to, cutting each rail so that the cuts I'm making are as close to the middle of the space between ties as I can eyeball 'em, then dress the flush-cut rail ends with files and a fine sanding disk...and sand an angle into the sharp corners of each cut rail at the joint...not removing very much metal, just enough to make it easy to start the very short rail joiners onto the rails.

(7) I cut away the between-tie spacers under the rail feet from 3 or 4 ties closest to the ends of the rails I've just cut, and slide the ties back from the cut rail ends.

Photo (1) - 4 ties with cut tie spacers slid back away from what is about to be soldered:


( 8 ) I mount the shortened rail joiners on each rail and slide them back a bit, and bring the rails together and slide one mounted, short rail joiner carefully so it's positioned centered between the two rails being joined.

(9) I flux and solder one rail at a time, then check the alignment of the newly soldered joint, and make any corrections I feel are necessary, then double check...then position the other rail joiner as in step ( 8 ) , flux and solder it....then check the rail alignment again and make any corrections that I think are necessary.  If you can't see the top and sides of the rail joint easily, use your finger after the rail has cooled, sliding your most uncallused fingertip along the new joint (top and sides) to feel for any excessive protrusions or misalignment.  This is an old machinist's trick and it works very well. Final inspection should be using the M4 Eyeball Method, sighting along the rails at a low angle, which magnifies any imperfections...then test with your most finicky car.  Taking time NOW to get it right will save you from a lot of headaches later.

(10) Using a stiff, small wire brush, I burnish the joint so it's relatively bright, and slide the ties on both pieces of flex towards the soldered joint, with the two short rail joiners positioned between ties.

Photo (2) - Shortened rail joiners soldered but not yet burnished and ties roughly slid back to their original positions:


Sounds like a lot of work, but it goes quickly, and looks really excellent.  Also, it's a lot easier to get the small joiners on the ends of the rails, and they don't stab me.

Here's a photo I've posted before of the shortened rail joiners, showing how they virtually disappear, with no funky ties inserted underneath them.

Photo (3) - Shortened rail joiners after burnishing and painting on Rail-Craft C55:


As I always do, I highly recommend at least a 35W iron with a clean and tinned tip, and 96/4 tin/silver solder (which is 7 times stronger than lead/tin solder) and Superior Supersafe No. 30 gel flux, which is self-neutralizing and the best flux you'll ever use for track and brass/nickel silver/bronze fabrication.  It's all available here:  https://www.hnflux.com/page2.html  ...and here: https://www.hnflux.com/page5.html

As an alternate method, look into not using rail joiners at all, achieved by sliding properly chamfered and cut rails into empty plastic ties on alternate pieces of flex.  This works particularly well with ME C55 because of the tight spikeheads, and if you have feeders on every piece of rail, the rail joiners are only necessary where kinking might be a problem, such as on really tight radii, or uneven trackwork.

Personally, if I'm going to use rail joiners on floppy Atlas track, I want them to be tight. (I don't use Atlas or Peco track on any of my layouts...just on customers' layouts if that's what they insist on using) If my rail joiners are loose, then they need to be soldered with silver-bearing solder so they'll keep the rail ends aligned.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[CRL]

Happiness is a tight... rail joiner. 

A quick way to clean up the end if the rail is a small Dremel wire brush wheel. I solder all my rail joiners unless I’m using a Peco insulated rail joiner.

[Chris333]

Atlas Z scale code 55 joiners are about half as long as their N ones. Don't know if they sell them separately yet though.

[OldEastRR]

We seem to get a thread about this topic kinda regularly. I like the half-joiner idea. too lazy to do it myself.

[ednadolski]

I've used hundreds of ME C55 railjoiners for decades, ...

@robert3985 would you please consider putting all this great info into an online blog somewhere?  That would make it a whole lot easier to find (and wouldn't be constrained to TRW forum parsing).

As an alternate method, look into not using rail joiners at all, achieved by sliding properly chamfered and cut rails into empty plastic ties on alternate pieces of flex.  This works particularly well with ME C55 because of the tight spikeheads, and if you have feeders on every piece of rail, the rail joiners are only necessary where kinking might be a problem, such as on really tight radii, or uneven trackwork.

@GaryHinshaw does this on his Tehachapi, BC layout, and it works quite well:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24108.msg265842#msg265842

As Bob says, you have to chamfer the rail base and solder feeders to each segment of rail (a good practice to do anyways).

Ed

[DKS]

First a Side Note:  @robert3985 have you considered putting all this great info into an online blog somewhere?  That would make it a whole lot easier to find (and wouldn't be limited to TRW forum parsing).

@GaryHinshaw does this on his Tehachapi, BC layout, and it works quite well:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24108.msg265842#msg265842

As Bob says, you have to chamfer the rail base and solder feeders to each segment of rail (a good practice to do anyways).

Ed

I've been using this method since the late 1980's, and I've never looked back.

No rail joiners = no expansion/contraction issues, and infinitely better cosmetics.

Feeder wires soldered to each length of flex = no voltage drops and much more reliability.

[Bill H]

I've used hundreds of ME C55 railjoiners for decades, but as with all other brands of railjoiners, I don't see any reason, particularly for stiff ME flextrack, for the railjoiner to be so long and have that sharp little "tongue" on either end.

...As I always do, I highly recommend at least a 35W iron with a clean and tinned tip, and 96/5 tin/silver solder (which is 7 times more strong than lead/tin solder) and Superior Supersafe No. 30 gel flux, which is self-neutralizing and the best flux you'll ever use for track and brass/nickel silver/bronze fabrication.  It's all available here:  https://www.hnflux.com/page2.html  ...and here: https://www.hnflux.com/page5.html
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Completely agree with Bob on the Superior Supersafe flux. Highly recommended. Get some...

Kind regards,
Bill

[Seligman Sub]

Many thanks to all, especially the detailed responses!  I wonder if I have a bad pack of ME joiners because even if I get one end on the rail it’s so tight I can’t get it further down onto position without bending the hell out of it. Regardless of where I’m grabbing it. It’s very frustrating because I’m literally wasting time on something that should go fairly fast if I want to have any layout bigger than a single module. I’ll keep at it and maybe try some of these suggestions.


Brad

[wazzou]

Yeah, that's been my experience too.  Most of them seem almost flat.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Just used a number of Code 70 joiners yesterday on some HOn3 weathered ME track and they are very tight.
Used hundreds on Code 55 ME weathered track joiners on my fallen flag SFRSD years ago and they too were very tight. I slightly file the ends of all pieces of rail as I have found the the rail is not cut well from the factory (no complaints as I love this track) then make sure I clean the weathering off to ensure good electrical contact. I also made a tool using some Code 55 rail fit into a piece of wood dowel. Bent the rail to an angle that allowed me to slide the joiner on the installation tool then onto the track. Save untold damage to my fingernails and made the job soo much easier.

[jagged ben]

After I cut the rail to length, I take a larger milling file and file the end vertically, perpedicular to the rail, to make the end square.  Then I put the file at an acute angle to the bottom of the web and take a few swipes at the cut end to take any burr off the bottom edge.  Then I grab a small cheap file that has an edge thin enough to fit between the rail head and the web. (Usually some kind of flatter triangle or rhombus shaped file.) I stick it in there on each side of the rail and take a few swipes at the top of the web on both sides.  The result is that the end of the web is filed to a thin edge, even knife sharp.   Once I do this I find I have no problem inserting the rail into the joiner, without modifying the joiner. 

Maybe this is just what other people are describing as chamfering but I hope the detailed description is appreciated.

This should work even if you also cut joiners in half as other's are describing here.

I also do the thing of using the ME ties to span rail joints without using joiners.  But since a lot of my trackwork is modifying existing track at the club, that isn't always practical if I want to leave in place track that the previous guy put in with joiners on both rails at the same tie.   That method really requires staggering the rail joints by a few ties.

[jagged ben]

Santa Fe Guy's installation tool is a good idea, too.  I haven't gotten to actually making a tool with a wooden dowel, but I frequently stick the joiner on a short scrap of rail to do the same sort of thing.