Bulletproofing the Straight Yard Tracks

Here is a picture of the layout in June 2025. The first three yard tracks (covered by the freight cars) have been fully operational for over a year and a half. Also, as of April, the car float and transfer bridge are operational so I can run cars from the float to the yard and/or around the layout and back into the yard.

I am just about to finish all the turnouts for the yard so I will need the rest of the straight tracks ready to go. The process shown below will hopefully “bulletproof” the straight track so that I will not have any issues down the road. I’ve seen a couple of modules where the rail has lifted because of heat expansion. There are no expansion gaps because there are so many PC ties and everything is soldered in place. I have no plans to use rail joiners except in making hinged points for the point rails which I will show on another page. Whenever two rails meet they will be soldered together over a PC tie. The three yard tracks that have been installed for over a year and a half have been in the trailer during the winter as well as 90º+ weather without any issues so I plan to do the rest of the straight yard track the same way.

These steps show what I did to prepare the track. Another page (or here at a later time) will show how I glued them in place and the weathering technique I used. The grey board is a laser cut jig I made but one could also be easily made with wood, styrene or other materials. The ties on Micro Engineering flex track are closer to narrow gauge in width and height than standard gauge ties. The pre-cut double gapped ties from Fast Tracks are a little bigger but as you can see in the last photo, when it’s ballasted/weathered you can’t tell a difference. I decided to give these PC board ties a try because they are already the correct length and have the gaps cut.

My homemade jig, pre-cut double gapped PC board ties, and Micro Engineering code 70 track.
Every 6th tie removed from the flex track. You can see the yellow spots are where the PC board ties go in place.
A quick polish with a file and the ties are ready.
A quick polish of the underside of the rail cleans any residue and makes the solder have a better connection to the tie.
The PC board ties and flex track in the jig ready to be soldered together.
Straight soldered rail
The jig works perfect for making straight yard track. For curves I can solder just one side of the tie and finish once in place.
Straight parallel yard tracks.
This is the first three that have been installed over a year and a half. I love the weathered, muddy, dirty yard tracks look.

Here is a picture of the straight track I’ve added the PC ties to so far. I have two more 3-way curved turnouts to finish then the special throw bars for all the points. I want to install the turnouts before cutting all the longer track.