Fishplates

With two o14 track panels fixed to my bit of wood, I need to do a bit of electrical work. While this isn't a layout proper, just in case I decide to have a crack at a locomotive, there had better be some continuity from one end to the other.

A smart person would tin the bottom of the ends of the rails before spiking it to the sleepers and then attach droppers that go through the baseboard and join each rail to it's neighbour electrically. In OO I just solder the rails to each other but these joins can break if there temperature changes and the rails expand and contract. With PCB track, this isn't a big problem, but when the rail can move in chairs or spikes, it might be.

Needless to say I didn't do things properly, my electrics rely on solder smeared on the underside of the rail with a hot iron and some Carrs Red label flux. Once cool I had to use a square ended file to clean out the solder that had oozed up the sides.

Finally, the supplied cosmetic plastic fishplates were fitted with a touch of superglue. This all looks very nice although I should have a left a tiny gap between the rail ends for expansion as the prototype does. I'll just have to blame learner plate layers.