Pre war O and Fastrac Switches

[overall]

Will pre-war O gauge trains negotiate Fastrac switches without derailing? I am thinking about building a small Fastrac layout to run pre-war  trains on. I have had issues running pre war trains on Atlas and Gargrave switches. I just wondered if any of you had tried this.

Thanks,

George

[rtraincollector]

not positive but if I remember correctly I ran my 262E on friends store layout and it had no problem. and he had switches on it. I think the only engines you may have to worry about are some old marx as they had there gears on the inside of the driver wheels

[Northwoods Flyer]

George,

I have Pre War Flyer equipment and I have used Fastrack for my layout because of the ease of taking it apart and reassembling it when I go to a train show or set up a display.  I had thought of using the Fastrack switches to create yards and a more interesting route on my home layout.  I bought one manual Fastrack switch to test out the compatibility.  Most of the Pre War Flyer engines that I ran over the switch experienced a significant bump and many of them derailed.  For that reason I have two long and winding loops on my layout without any switches.  I haven't tried any of the cross overs yet. As far as running on Fastrack in general, the engines and rolling stock have no difficulty. Its like running on the smoothest rail you can imagine, and the conductivity is superb.

This is just my experience with the Flyer equipment.  I don't know how some of the other pre war engines might handle them.

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[arkady]

I don't have much prewar, but I do have a Lionel #252 and a Lionel #1700 streamliner.  Neither of them will pass through my manual FasTrack switches without a significant bump.  The large gears on the back of the drive wheels hit the FasTrack guard rails.

I don't know about every single prewar locomotive, but I know mine don't like FasTrack at all.

 

 

[NealM]

I have a 259, it also has large gears on the drive wheel and they catch every time. This is my only disappointment with fastrack