track soldering questions

[diburning]

Plumbers use an acid core solder, which works well with copper plumbing as pipes are usually thicker than wire. Always use a rosin core on electronics and electrical circuitry.

Acid core solder or acid based fluxes WILL corrode the rail into a sticky green mess over time! Even if you scrape it off with a brite boy, the green scum will return within a week!

[bennyboots]

Do you solder all track joints? If not, where and why not? Also, is there any concern about melting the plastic ties?

I am getting ready to glue down track and wanted to do it properly. Thanks

A small piece of paper towel folded down to around 1'' square and soaked with water (1 on each side of your work area directly above the ties) worked well for me I didn't melt a single tie.

I soldered my feeder wires in 1/4'' from the joiners, one for every piece of solid rail. I didn't solder any joiners on my layout but thats just me, I like the idea of being able to take things apart if need be. I run DCC so the healthiest track signal possible eliminates problems down the road.