I use both Hillman and Split Jaw. I like them both but if you have eyesight problems like I do my vote goes to Hillman.
Split-Jaw here for the last twelve years. Nothing has ever moved.
OTOH, we don’t get violent frost heave, eathquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis or any other of the fascinating [at a safe distance] weather patterns that you guys get.
Just rain.
whoopee.
tac
Hillman’s web site won’t let you order. I found some similar ones on ebay ‘Uncle Herm’ code 250 ones. Bit longer, which is what I wanted. 5/8" I have not tried them yet, but look to be well made, and I don’t know the guy. Came with a wrench even!
I’ve been using AML jointers bought from Robby at RLD.
Hi Dick,
Just getting started in Adelaide, AUSTRALIA with some club track from my club in Sydney and they tell me I should be looking into rail clamps, so I came to the forum to get some advice, saw your post and wondering if the Hillman offer is still open…
Cheers, Bill
I’ve been in G Scale for some 40 plus years and my first layouts were rail power outside, now at age 78 and not wanting to deal with rail power I have gone to Rail Pro battery power. I will say here it is totally a pleasure to run trains and I can run them on any layout requardless of what power the layout is powered with, just put them on the track and go. The club that I belong to is now about 50% battery power (dead rail) and those that are not DR are sure giving it some thought. Yes there is a cost to battery power, but I’ve not found that those who want it can afford it. If track power is your thing and you enjoy working on your layout then it’s the way I would go, enjoying your trains is all that really counts.
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Hi Bill - Welcome to LSC 
You may not have noticed that Dick’s offer was made in 2014, nearly 10 years ago!
My opinions expressed above haven’t really changed. Although I no longer use track power for trains, my track acts as the power buss for lighting and my screw-on track joiners are still conducting electricity just fine!
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Hi Bill, and I’ll echo the welcoming!
Several folks have mentioned Train Li joiners, and I want to loudly concur. And here’s the difference: other joiners clamp two faces of metal against the rail flange. The TL clamps act quite differently: they have a milled hook-edge on one side, and two flat head screws on the other.
The advantages include:
- The conical shape of the screws slightly digging into the flange, giving excellent conductivity (combined with the milled hook on the other side)
- The aforementioned “digging in” providing a perfect feature to lock the rail ends in place
- Dealing with 2 screws per joint, and not 4
- Vertical position of the screwdriver (can see the screw a lot better than with horizontal)
My 2 cents, and please post more,
Cliff
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Thanks folks,
Getting to my club meetings is a 15 hour drive as Australia’s G scale community is quite small. I am clearly behind the times, as I purchased DCC before batteries became a thing… but It’s nice to now there are folks to bounce questions off at LSC.
I’ll look into rail joiners from Train-li. They’ve been been quite helpful recently, and getting items from train-li Switzerland has been more cost effective than from the USA. Luckily google translate has made their web pages much easier to navigate.
It’s been somewhat challenging finding recommended products as the hobby appears to be on a decline. When looking for recommendations, search for AML ended up on the accucraft site and their clamps had a profile similar to split jaw.
What’s the current consensus about over the joiner clamping vs direct to rail clamping for those of us who haven’t explored battery operations? Has anyone had issues with electrolysis with dissimilar metals being used in these clamps?
Aloha Bill,
Relative to the folks on this site, I am a newbie, so please factor that into your considerations.
The Triple O has graced our backyard for about 8 years. It is relatively small, and we use plain old DC power to move what is largely a vintage fleet of LGB locomotives. R1/3 ft radius curves are the norm, almost all track is LGB sectional track, and the track “floats” on a bed of gravel. Freezing is clearly not an issue here on Oahu, but heat, rain, small earthquakes, dogs, and kids all cause the track to shift about, which does nothing positive for electrical continuity! We experimented with TrainLi’s clamps as well as SplitJaw’s over-the-joiner and direct-to-rail clamps, buying packs here and there to address the most troublesome spots while controlling costs. In the end, we settled on SplitJaw’s over-the-joiner clamps, a solitary large order was our “strategic purchase” this year to complete clamping our entire mainline.
The over-the-joiner clamps proved the most reliable for our conditions. We found that neither the TrainLi nor direct-to-rail clamps provided the same connectivity over time, especially on curves, and we assess this is because removing the joiner allowed for a degree of play that caused rails to come out of alignment. In fact, for both types of clamps, we frequently found the rails had worked themselves out of the clamps entirely! On straightaways, we found no performance difference between TrainLi and SplitJaw direct-to-rail clamps. The ease of installation and cost difference actually give the edge to TrainLi in these applications.
Both companies also offer insulated railclamps. We bought both, but we only installed the SplitJaw versions. These worked very well, but all broke after 5 years, again, likely due to the environmental stresses the Triple O places upon them. We have slowly replaced these with the bright yellow LGB plastic joiners, which, even if they do not make it five years, are a whole lot cheaper.
I strongly suspect if our track was fixed to a subroadbed of some sort, it would not have mattered at all which clamp we used, and it would have come down to which company offered the best deal for the price. I would thus evaluate the environment and the nature of your layout in making your choice, as both companies offer superior service and high-quality solutions, but one may offer slightly better solutions for your particular railroad.
I am not sure if anyone addressed this earlier in this ancient thread, but you may actually find the cost of battery conversion is ultimately cheaper. I take great joy in seeing the 40+ year old ka’a ahi iki (little fire coaches) my brother and I scrimped and saved for years ago cut circles in our little garden. Battery conversion for all of these little “guys” was cost-prohibitive, and making a pair of battery coaches to run a couple trains any given afternoon seemed too limiting, especially since for the same price we could clamp the whole system and run whatever suited our fancy. If you are not encumbered by irrational emotional attachment to a lot of little locomotives, and especially if yours is a larger railway, you may find that converting one or two locomotives to battery power is cheaper and, as everyone will say, ultimately a lot more hassle free.
In summary, please consider practical engineering questions such as type of track, minimum curve radii, anticipated environmental stresses, and type of roadbed, check that against your anticipated fleet size, layout size, and budget, and modify it all by how you enjoy interacting with your railroad. That will ensure you have an answer that works for you in building the railroad you want to have.
Eric
Eric, thanks for that insightful detailed review of the clamps you have used. It’s nice to hear what you’ve experienced with the various clamps. I’m bending rail today and finding slip joiners by themselves are just not cutting it.
I may end up jumping into battery power at some point but I have had this massoth unit sitting waiting to be used for the last 13 years while I’ve moved around the country. It still gives me the heebie jeebies breaking into engines and carriages when I’ve done it on occasion.
Bill,
I’ve learned so much here over the years, that it is a pleasure to give back for a change! I am glad to hear you found our experiences helpful!
Good luck!
Eric
Hi Bill,
While I have no direct experience of this (I used soldered joints and clamps alternating on each track section while I ran track power), as an electrical engineer I would recommend using some sort of antioxidant grease in each connection.
That is between the joiner/rail, then the clamp/joiners. It may not be so relevant with Trail Li clamps as they seems to have a direct bite on the joiners and are easily re tightened. The main problem is dirt & oxidation building up in the joints over time that stop power getting through.
my 2c. 
Cheers
Neil
I was going to mention hard soldered joints (if it’s brass rail). They have worked very well for me over the last 15+ years. I hard solder rail in about 15’ lengths then use rail clamps. Saves on clamps anyway.
Stan Ames even solders his stainless steel rail.
Thanks Neil,
I’ve laid some garden wire similar but thicker than cat 7 around the ballast so I can occasionally add power to the track and perhaps light some buildings. I am thinking of soldering the wire to a spade wire connector and attaching to a clamp.
I can’t find a post of anyone using lock washers to keep the screws in place, though I was thinking of using Locktight Liquid.
Do you have any thoughts on this and are you referring to “dielectric grease” and are you coating the threads of the screws as well as the rail contacts?
Bill
Hi Bill,
Personally I’d stay away from locktite (non conductive), and seems a bit overkill. Same with lock washers although they not going to hurt. I’d probably keep dropping them and end up having to use short words to explain how things are supposed to go… 
Di electric grease seems to be the label it goes by, have to confess I’ve never had to buy any, I got a lifetime supply after a work project way back when. You just need to coat the contact areas.
Re the ‘like Cat 7’, I assume you mean a bunch of pairs in 1 cable? As long as each wire has a cross section of more than say 1.5 - 2 sq mm you’ll be fine. The track itself is a really good conductor (assumption you’re using brass?) due to it’s size - I’d put my efforts into keeping the joints clean & tight, or soldered like Rooster said.
Way better in the long run.
Cheers
N
I did some digging and found some pics of rail clamps installed with an abundance of antioxidant. These were on my first railroad, and were in the ground about 5 or 6 years.
Here they are ‘as removed’ - you can see the remnant white paste.
And after a scrub up. The bits with protection came up clean with little effort, most everything else stayed tarnished.
Cheers
N
Here near Chicago i’ve been using Split Jaw connectors since 2004 with no problems. I run track power with one lead for two @300’ loops . I’ll go over the joints once in the spring time and that’s it.
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