Fear of intermittents in my permanent layout that I experienced with floor setups, lead me to solder each joint underneath before securing it to the table. When I had a section I could not turn over as in curves attached to straights, I soldered the curves contacts along with attaching wires to hook to the wires attached to the next soldered section. Blocks were created by bending the metal contacts out of the way, soldering wires to them that came through holes in the table and wired to where they needed to go. Bending the contacts out of the way on the outside rail is also a way to make those operating sections described in the Lionel books where you insulated an outside rail like the center, and used insulating pins. For MTH, a bit of plastic placed between rail ends keeps expansion from forcing them together and making a connection.
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