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As to "weathered" ME Code40 rail and its solderability...I've heard (I can't confirm it) that it can be soldered without buffing off the weathering. I'm sure I read that here at TRW a while ago, but since all of my ME Code40 rail stock is unweathered, I've never actually tested this claim.However, when I've been forced to use weathered ME rail to build turnouts in the past when the unweathered rail was unavailable, I always removed the weathering, knowing that it's a bit more work, but the turnouts would get done rather than waiting for the unweathered ME rail to finally show up.Buffing off the weathering is not a daunting task. I've used a steel wire brush-wheel in my Dremel to do it quickly on cut-ends if I needed the top of the rail foot and a bit of the rail web to be soldered, and it soldered just fine, only taking a bit longer to put a turnout together.On the underside of the rail foot, I just used 320 grit emery paper, or a 3M pad, and drew the 36" rail-stick through a sandwich of either several times, taking the weathering off of the railhead and the foot simultaneously. Part of my normal assembly procedure is to run a big, sharp bastard file over the top of my finished turnouts' railheads before they're installed to get the rails perfectly aligned vertically anyway. I'm not a proponent of railheads having to be mirror polished for reliability or cleanliness, but your experience may differ.Of course, I was using the best model railroad track flux there is, Superior No.30 Supersafe Solder Flux and 96/4 Tin/Silver silver-bearing solid-core solder, both available here: https://www.hnflux.com/page22.html ...which makes soldering nickel silver, brass, bronze, copper as easy as can be, and six times stronger than "normal" electrical solder, using proper soldering practices.Cheerio!Bob Gilmore
Does anyone know if the code 40 “flat bottom” rail offered by various vendors in the UK is the same as what ME offers? Since the ME rail is reportedly sourced from the UK, anyway, I wonder. I emailed ME yesterday inquiring about future availability but haven’t received a response yet. They are on the vendor list for the Denver show this weekend, maybe someone can ask in person.
I bought a couple of rolls of Code40 rail from a UK vendor a couple of years ago of the "flat-bottom" variety and another roll that doesn't have a railfoot and is like a fat "I" beam, which is (I believe) for British "bullhead" track.I just got out my mic and measured the rail that looks like "normal" rail, and its measurements are: 0.043" tall, 0.040" wide at the railfoot, and 0.020" wide at the railhead.I measured one piece of ME rail, and more recent ME Code40 flex, and they both agree with the the British rail, except in height, with the ME rail being 0.0415" tall, and the flex rail being 0.044" tall. I don't remember the vendor in Britain because I tacked on my order to my friend Gregg Cudworth's order, which was for Code30 Ribbon Rail, which they have since discontinued.I'm pretty sure that all of the British vendors who are selling rolls of Code40 rail are getting it from the same source, which may be the same source that ME gets theirs from since it looks to be identical, except it's in a roll instead of 3' straight sticks.Frankly, having it slightly curved isn't a problem for me when building turnouts, and I can easily straighten it. However, I've got a large stock of ME 40 in straight sticks, so I've only built one turnout using the British rolled rail just to see how difficult it would or wouldn't be.Cheerio!Bob Gilmore
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Topic: Code 40 rail (Read 6688 times)
