Rail joiner

Drill Gauge
A simple drill gauge can be made with standard rail joiners as shown in the photos below. Use a felt tip pen to mark the holes on the web of the rail to be drilled. Never drill the holes with the gauge in place, as it will tend to enlarge the gauge's holes over time. The idea comes from Texas railroad builder Ken Smith. Ken suggests drilling the hole in three steps: 1/8 inch, 7/32 inch, and finally 5/16 inch. This makes it easier to drill the holes, and extends the life of the 5/16 inch bit. The hole is oversized to allow expansion and contraction of rail.

Hardware
Ron Canfield, owner of the Windy Ridge Railroad, suggests using pan head machine screws instead of hex head screws. He states that the hex head screws can be difficult to remove because of the lack of room for a socket or wrench to grab the head of the screw.

Spall Slip Joiner
From Train Mountain Encyclopedia, v 4-13 (PDF):


 * Ed Spall,  a  member  first  of  the  Los Angeles Live Steamers,  and  subsequently  of  the  Sacramento Valley Live Steamers,   developed   an   alternative method for joining track in the early 1990's.The  Spall  Rail  Joiner  is  essentially  a  scaled  up  HO track  joiner  that  is  four  inches  long  and  slips  around the foot and up the web  of the rail.  Train Mountain has done the tool and die work to produce these  joiners  in  quantity.  They  have  been  in  use  since  1992  as  a  part  of  the  Train Mountain Track System and on tracks all over the country, with excellent results.