Modeler's Moment - Tip: soldering rail joints

Okay, I need to make more updates here. Well, starting today, I'll be posting (nearly) daily updates called "Modeler's Moments". It's like the various "... Of The Day" features that you're already familiar with, but here the Modeler's Moment will combine a little bit of everything. Some days it will be a website link, others it will be a model photo or a model building tip, still other days it will be something about the prototype railroads or their history. Whatever it is, it'll be a way to get more model railroad information out to both of this website's readers, but in small enough chunks that it won't be too overwhelming.

So, let's start off with a model building tip that has to do with tracklaying....

When you're soldering rail joints, put the tip of your soldering iron against the inside of the rail and apply the solder on the outside of the rail where the two rail pieces and the rail joiner meet. If you're soldering flex track joints, solder the joint before you bend the track into a curve to prevent a permanent kink in the rail.