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Reply to "Updated Track Suggestions Needed"

Sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble.  Considering you have already put the capital into this track and I am assuming that this track is what you wanted originally, then soldering the track together from the bottom side would be the best way to go.  Yes, I can tell you from personal experience, it is a laborious task to take up all of the track and solder jumpers from section to section, but the end result will be very satisfying.  Considering I am a conventional guy, I cannot speak to how well the signal strength will be, but I can say you will not find any voltage drops throughout your layout.  My experience comes from soldering Lionel Fastrack.  The project, a 32’ x 16’ layout, has every single joint soldered via jumpers from the bottom.   I probably did not have to do it this way, but since I had the track on my bench, I soldered 3 jumpers to the bottom of each piece of track.  2 for the common rails and 1 for the hot rail.  I was surprised the new Fastrack is not built anything like the original Fastrack when it first came out.  The strap on each section of the track for the common rails was loose on most pieces so I soldered it also.  Did I go a little crazy?  Yeah, I probably did.  But you know what, I feel, I will not have to worry about power problems ever again on the track unless that cheap plating comes off over the years from use.  I do agree with the others.  Gargraves track and Ross switches is a super combination with very reliable results.  However, that means quite the monetary outlay of cash.  For shi*s and grins, take up a small area of your track and solder it up.  Test it out and see if it fixes your problem.  If so, the money you save from not buying all new track can be put to purchasing that special train you want but have not pulled the trigger on yet.  Good luck and let us know how this works out for you.

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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