Hi Jmsiv,
I asked a similar question a few weeks ago and received an overwhelming vote for Gargraves track and Ross switches. I started looking around locally (Denver - I have two fairly large train shops) and neither carried Ross switches and only one carries the gargraves switches...but not a lot of selection.
For me it boiled down to what I can get locally. I'm building my railroad empire just like many others...one paycheck at a time. I would rather be able to get my supplies locally (especially when they are just as cheap as some of the mail-order shops) and save the shipping costs.
Having said all that....I ended up going Atlas all the way on track and switches....I'm very happy with my decision. I'm just 5 miles from my LHS and their shelves are stocked full of just about everything Atlas makes in their track line.
I know most of what I've said isn't going to help you. But I think if I could have purchased the Ross switches/Gargraves track locally, that is the direction I would have went. I'm not sure abou the difference in the two lines.
Jerry
Both lines are of the same quality. I believe the major difference lies in what type of layout you are building. The Superline has familar nos. such as 042 and 072 that match up with Lionels line up of track as far as footprint and radius. If you are building a layout from plans these will work nicely. The Premier line is more or less offered for the Hi Rail type of layout. Turnouts are offered in nos. such as 4,6, or 8. These are more prototypical of turnouts you see on the real RR's and work great with scale engines. The train will not change or turn abruptly when running through these turnouts These see more use on a layout that the owner is using flextrack and bending there own curves as they really aren't any particular radius on the curved portion.
I've had ROSS on my layout for over 18 years with very few issues. A couple of broken throwbars has been about it. I have a mixing of different types as many products were not available years ago. My recent purchases have been the Premiere ones. These are fantastic. Built a staging yard using exclusively no. 4's. Like I said the Premiere line is geared for those that are using flextrack. An interesting piece ROSS makes is their transition track. It brings a line back to parrarlell with an adjacent track. No bending required. 3 track spacing dimmensions are offered. Great for building yard tracks or passing sidings.
There are other good systems out there. I agree local availabilty is a plus. I've ordered from Ross on line and everything was promptly shipped. Great people to work with, great products and built in the USA.
When I built my layout several years back I used Ross and have been very satisfied with them. As to availability, I found that ordering direct from Ros was best. Even when I did find them in a hobby shop they were the same as direct and usually the local sales tax was more than shipping cost.
With prices being a bit high, quality costs, I ordered a set of their drawings, made copies, cut them out and stapled them to the layout then ran my track, Gargraves, and installed the switches as funds were available for purchase.
I don't know what diameter you are looking for but from top to bottom, it's hard to beat the quality of Ross. This is coming from a committed GG track person who started with GG switches and soon changed to Ross. I will say that the larger diameter GG switches are okay but the quality of the O42's is quite spotty. Several of mine have required "tweaking" to attain relatively smooth operation and are now relegated to a yard and relatively lightly used sidings. Ross also offers a greater variety of switch sizes and configurations. Three that are particularly neat IMO are the yard ladder, double crossover, and curve switches (really useful if you are space limited).
Poppyl
I went with GarGraves track first then went with GarGraves switches as Lionel switches kept giving me more & more problems. I will agree that the GG 042 switches require a little "tweaking" or working into a layout but once done they are way better than the Lionel duds(6-23010).
Ross has more differant styles of switches than any other company. Both Gargraves switches & Ross switches can use the same switch motors the DZ1000, also no adapter pins when using Ross and Gargraves together.
Lee F.
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