Track & Bridges
RailClamps Demystified
Nov 26, 2003
By Russ T. Rails |
Author
Bio
Lately folks, who have been in this hobby for a long time, are asking me this question. More than ever before are asking it. Perhaps the one word response is "Continuity".
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Why Use a RailClamp? What About the Joiners That Came With The Track? Lately folks, who have been in this hobby for a long time, are asking me this question. More than ever before are asking it. Perhaps the one word response is "Continuity". The manufacturers will list many other reasons, but to me that is first and foremost. The fact that there is little or no voltage drop in over 100 feet of rail is a consideration and so is the fact that they perfectly align the track. However it goes deeper than that. I operate close to 1200 feet of track with close to 60 turnouts, all outdoors. For the past 4 months I have been in the process of swapping out my old brass track for stainless steel and have come up on one of the most important reasons to use rail clamps. The stainless track is a lot harder to cut and drilling and tapping is next to impossible with the tools owned by the average large-scale model railroader. The clamps made for Stainless steel are a lot easier to use when you have to cut a section of track and I would not install a turnout/switch with anything other than a rail-clamp. A lot of those who use brass rail do not have the skills or temperament to drill and tap the brass track either. To many of us this is a simple operation, to others it is a chore. My layout is now five years old and starting into the third year of operations on my railway. I noticed that I was starting to get dead spots in the track. By all accords I had laid the track correctly. Electrically conductive grease was used on each rail joint, and the screws were as tight as they could go. Part of my particular problem lies with airborne pollution. I live near a large quarry and cement plant, not too far in the other direction is located a yard for bulk cement carriers. Both of these folks deny that they blow off cement dust at night but both are settling class action law suits with several area car dealers. From time to time I get a coating of this dust that gets into the joiners and track joints and then gets wet and makes an insulated joint. I know others have similar problems. The fact that you need to use a rail clamp does not indicate that you did anything wrong or that the track manufacturer did anything wrong. It is usually some type of pollutant that has broken the connectivity in your track. I also think that the conductive paste that some of us use breaks down or fails and adds to the problem, this could come from the pollutants or just from effects of the weather.
When I started using rail clamps I went to the Hillman's RailClamps folks, Richard and Carol Hillman, you cannot ask for a better couple to deal with. Their response is immediate and the service is outstanding. They manufacture this product themselves and the end product is often put together by the whole family while sitting around the table at night. This is truly an American Cottage Industry. The only product that they have that I do not care for, and this is just my personal feeling is their Triad RailClamp Part 332-01C. It takes me three hands to put them on. I have used close to 100 of them, and have cut many in two to use as a clamp to get power to the rails, they are outstanding for that use. If you use them on anything you still have to loosen both of the screws that hold them on and they add no real benefit over the regular clamp that they sell. I have used both the OverJoiner RailClamp Part 332-02 and the Standard RailClamp Part 332-01 that goes directly on the rail. If I had not already had my track in place and running I would have used the Standard RailClamp exclusively. These give a much better look and are actually easier to use once the manufacturer's joiner is out of the way. I owned four or five hundred of the over the joiner type and reused a lot of them when I started putting the stainless steel in place. Caution: A word on Stainless Steel Rail and Rail Clamps Richard Hillman turned me on to this almost as soon as I started doing it, and luckily I have not broken a clamp yet, but I feel that with changes in the temperature this winter when the weather gets extreme it is going to happen. The Standard RailClamp that goes directly on the track Hillman Part 332-01 are smaller in the throat than the bottom of Aristo Crafts Stainless Steel Rail. Aristo Craft had to spend a lot of money to get a machine that would do the rail so that it had a much better looking profile. It took them several attempts to get something that worked and would produce a decent looking product. The end result was that the bottom flange of the rail is a tiny bit thicker than the throat in the clamp is wide. This makes it very hard to screw the clamps together. Richard and Carol Hillman have come out with a new clamp just for the Aristo Craft Stainless Steel, The Hillman Aristo Craft Stainless Steel Track RailClamp Part 332-01SAN. It has a wider throat and it's nickel plated so that it does not look out of place with the Stainless Steel rail. It goes on without the strain that the old style clamp is put under.
Insulated Rail Clamps Here is a product that easily outperforms any other insulated clamp on the market. They are made of a PVC material and have a brass plate on one side to accommodate the business end of the stainless steel screws. As you draw them tight the PVC squeezes together to keep the track locked together and insulates the sections from each other. These could have been designed better but I really don't see how with the present method of manufacture. The only drawback is that you have to put a small piece of plastic between the ends of the rail. These clamps are made for both Brass and Stainless Steel Like I stated at the start of this paragraph these outperform any other insulated joiner on the market. All of those made by the other manufacturers will allow the rails to slip out and are often the cause of derailments due to misaligned track. So the addition of a small section of plastic is a minor thing. Switches After building my layout and then having to swap out some of the switches for repair, I ordered some of the Hillman Clamps that were intended for use directly to the rail and not over a joiner. I removed all of the OEM rail joiners and replaced them with these clamps. Removing a switch is a chore, with the OEM joiners you have to remove six rail joiners and 12 screws, and then take a screwdriver and ball peen hammer or the heel of your hand and force the joiner back on the adjoining rail, lift out the switch make your repair and then force the joiners back into place and replace the screws. This is hard on the track and your hand. It is just so much easier to remove the rail clamps and remove the switch and then replace the clamps. Switches Made Easy If you just rely on the Allen wrench that is supplied with the rail clamps you are going to do OK, but to make it easier, Hillmans in particular sells a ball driver for around $3.00 that will make your life a lot simpler when doing switches. I buy these two at a time, as it is possible to break a tip off, I also modify one to use in a Black and Decker cordless drill. A second must have is the small drive set and bit that they offer for around $12.00. Yes it adds to the cost, but the work it can save makes it worth the money. It is hard to get into the Wye of a switch with the drive set but here is where the ball driver comes in handy. Another tip here if you are going to have your trains running while doing some of this work, put a section of heat shrink on the shaft of the ball driver.
Re-use of Rail Clamps All of the major brands of rail clamps can be used over and over again. When I started to replace my old brass track with Stainless Steel, I started encountering a problem that I may have caused myself. The Hillman's were somewhat concerned but I honestly do not think that this problem was one that they created. I would give a screw a turn or two to loosen it and it would break off. When I would go to reinstall the clamp I would often break one or both of the screws. The Hillmans throw in extra screws when you make and order and I soon ran through all of those and contacted them for more. The Problem Cause/Cure First of all with as many joints as I had to fix, I soon got tired of the ratchet driver. I cut the handle end off of a ball driver and put it in a cordless Black and Decker drill, I found that the lowest torque setting works the best. This makes quick work of putting in the screws and was and is actually the best way I have found to date to do this. Was this the problem? NO! I actually found that number one I was over tightening the screws with the ratchet driver. This did not break them right away, but you take a hard object like a Stainless Steel screw and put it under high tension and then expose it to daytime temperatures that have gotten well over 100 some days here in the eastern US, as well as winter Temperatures that can go below 0 some nights and you got a problem. The track can reach a temperature well over 130-140 degrees during a hot summer day. Richard Hillman was concerned that it was the Standard RailClamp being used on Stainless Steel that was the problem. This was not the case, it was me, I am of the old school, and if two turns are good then four are better. Folks it just don't work! I had over 100 of the old brass clamps that I reused, this you should not do on stainless steel, mine worked, but who knows for how long. Richard warned me that they might break, but by then I had over 80 of them in place, this winter will tell if they can take the strain. I have had no problems in reusing the OverJoiner RailClamp, they have a bigger throat to accommodate the differences in OEM rail joiners. If you do decide to use a cordless drill to install the rail clamps I highly recommend that you use one with a low amp motor rating. Set it for the lowest torque setting you can work up until you start to break screws and then back off or as long as you can't easily pull the track apart. Always go with the lowest setting. I have found that consistently this works the best and is easiest on the clamps and screws. None have come apart yet where that method was used. Top of Page
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