Williams track vs Lionel

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any experience with Williams track?  The Williams catalog I have shows it to have 5 ties per section vs the Lionel with 3.  Is this correct?  Is the Williams track actually 0-27 or O?  The prices I'm finding seem to be better with the Williams.  Any opinions?  Thanks.

 Larry

[Blueberryhill RR]

I have both Lionel " 0 " guage track ( 3 ties ) and Williams " 0 " guage, which is 5 ties. They are exactly the same. Except for the amount of ties. Williams makes " 0 " guage and also, " 0-27 " guage track. Both have 5 ties.

Just for your information.......... I also have some older Lionel  " 0 " guage track, that has 5 ties. It is all stamped " Lionel  NY ".

Also, Williams makes " 0-72 " curved track that has 6 ties.

Chuck

[alexweiihman]

Speaking of tinplate track, I belive K-line made almost identical track to the orignal lione

[LS1Heli]

All the tubular tracks are the bascially the same. The Williams/K-Line track is attempting to copy the prewar Lionel 072 straight track which was 14" long and came with much more closely spaced ties. This is why sometimes layouts look goofy because people are using 072 curved track with regular 0 gauge straight track.

[Blueberryhill RR]

All the tubular tracks are the bascially the same. The Williams/K-Line track is attempting to copy the prewar Lionel 072 straight track which was 14" long and came with much more closely spaced ties. This is why sometimes layouts look goofy because people are using 072 curved track with regular 0 gauge straight track.

Hmmmmm.....Sounds like a few extra ties would make a.............. " goofy " layout look good !!

[Dave Farquhar]

I put extra ties on all of my track because I think it makes it look better. It still looks like toy train track, but at first glance it looks more realistic, and certainly more uniform. I just steal ties off rusty track, cleaning and repainting it if need be. I think the trains run better when I do that, but that's probably my imagination.

I have Lionel, K-Line and Marx track on my layout. I don't care much about who made what, but sometimes if something doesn't fit quite right, substituting a different maker's section makes it fit. I don't see much difference in quality between manufacturers but they all measured their curves a little bit differently, and sometimes that fraction-of-an-inch difference can make something fit that didn't before.

Personally, if I were in your shoes, if I had a ready source for the Williams track and it was less expensive, I'd get the Williams. I'd just buy a couple of Lionel (and/or K-Line, if you can find any) curved sections so that if something doesn't fit right, I could try Lionel to see if that helps.

[Frank53]

This is why sometimes layouts look goofy because people are using 072 curved track with regular 0 gauge straight track.

A little time spent on ballasting cuts down on the goofyness factor:

I was going to do extra ties up on this level, but it will hardly be seen once the main level is installed. I'm going to use extra ties on the main level and on the bridge where you can see them. 

[RR Redneck]

The only track good enough for my trains is Gar Graves and Lionel tubular track.