[Bob in Kalamazoo]

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 13 Apr 2012 08:39 PM
Steve, I'd like to talk you out of your over the joiner clamps. The rail joiners do not have very good contact with the rails. Clamps should contact the rails if you want electricity to flow through them.

Joiners actually help channel dirt down to wedge between the rails and joiner. Clamps contact the base with a much better contact area and just work better.

Please consider dumping the joiners and replacing with "normal" clamps.

On most track (LGB is tougher) it's easy to remove the joiner and add a clamp without moving the track at all.

Regards, Greg You can say that one again. I bought some used LGB turnouts last year and couldn't believe how hard it was to get the rail joiners off. I didn't realize at first that they have a little tab that sticks up into the ties. I would have just used over the joiner clamps but that would have defeated my purpose of using the clamps. I use jumpers around all my rail joints except at turnouts. There I use rail clamps to make it easier to pull out the turnout if I have a problem with it. And the clamp takes the place of the jumper to give me good continuity.
Bob