My yard has four #6 double slips -- all bought at the same time through my LHS. When I was first laying track it was noticed that one of the switch rails had come loose from the metal sub-throwbar it was soldered to. Resoldered... end of story, I thought.

Then when chasing a persistant but intermittent short in the yard, I noticed that one of the switch-rails had come loose:

The lower left rail is at an unnatural angle -- it had come free. When I checked the unit more closely, six of the eight switch rails were loose and came off with a touch. Sigh... Must have been made on a Monday, before the soldering iron warmed up. Contacted Walthers -- cannot be repaired, but if I sent it to them (across the border I might add) they would look at it and most likely would replace it. A generous offer, might have done it except that on the way back I would have to pay full duty and taxes as though it were a new purchase. (customs tends to be very oblivious to service and warranty replacements -- shipped a lens to a vendor in China a few years back, all paperwork was correct, identified as customer equipment for service on papers both ways. Ended up paying full duty, taxes and fees as though it were a purchase -- seems its the discretion of the broker whether to respect 'service'. But I digress... and complain.

So I decided to repair/rebuiild the thing. Flirted with the idea of building a more prototypical unit, maybe someday, then worked out a way to resolder the switch rails to a new pc tie -- with wide slots cut before soldering. Trick was to clean the underside of the rails where they had been 'soldered' and sand it smooth of the old solder traces. Soldering was a delicate proposition as the rails had to be soldered two by two -- in position against their respective stock rails and held in place with pins. NMRA gauge was helpful -- not a lot of room for error. When it cooled, push the throwbar to the other side -- tight clearances meant in a few places the flux flowed between the rails and glued them together. Careful knifework to separate.

Looks promising:

Next step is to shim where needed to provide room for the thicker PCB tie -- wood ties on each side, shaved a touch to not drag on the tips of the switchrails, styrene shims under the center. Then put it back...

Funny, one doesn't think about repairs when laying this stuff down... the first time.

Greg Latiak