What type of track/rail do you use?

[twcenterprises]

I'm in the planning and early construction phase and was wondering what everyone is using for their track.[?]

Brass, Nickle-silver, Stainless, or regular steel?
Size of rail (What code)?
Type of ties (plastic or wood, what type of wood, is wood treated or coated)?
Brand of material(s) or track used?

What has worked well, and what would (or did) you do differently?

I was thinking about using code 250 Nickle-silver and pressure treated pine ripped to size and stained. Yes, I know about the health hazards of cutting pressure treated wood[xx(], but can easily deal with that properly. Am I thinking soundly or making a mistake? Thanks for your responses and input.

Brad

[CandCRR]

I would reccoment going with Stainless. I had some Nickle-silver that "rusted out" in under a year. If not stainless Brass. There are several discussions on this subject in this forum you may want to try to find.

Jaime

[tangerine-jack]

I use prefab Aristocraft brass with plastic ties. Don't use plain steel, you'll regret that very soon. Stainless is an excellent choice, but expensive. Brass is cost effective and very durable. It all comes down to what your personal budget can handle, your choice.


[oX)]

[kstrong]

Money and time being no object, I'd opt for code 250 nickel silver rail on redwood ties. The nickel silver rail quickly weathers to a nice, realistic dark grey/brown color, so you don't need to worry about "weathering" the track to make it look realistic. It's got a low profile, which looks great in photos, and on a sturdy sub-roadbed will handle the occasional mis-step without arguement. Also, it can be easily soldered for electrical continuity.

(Jamie, can you expand on the "rusted out" nickel silver? There's no iron content in nickel silver rail, so actual "rust" is impossible. Certainly your experience has been different from mine, and I'm curious as to what happened.)

I'd use redwood for the ties, as redwood has a long-established history of holding up well in garden railroad environments. You will be wise to treat the redwood with a preservative, but that can be easily accomplished by cutting the ties, throwing them in a 5 gallon paint bucket, and pouring preservative over them to soak for a day before taking them out to use them. Pressure-treated lumber really doesn't hold up all that well in contact with the ground. I recently removed what's left of some timbers that had been in my back yard for only 10 years. Suffice to say I wouldn't use that stuff for ties. Pine is just too prone to rot, even with the preservatives. Redwood or cedar would be my top choices.

Now, if time and money is more of a concern, you have a few options available to you.

First, there's ubiquitous sectional track from LGB and Aristo. It's quality stuff, easy to use, and competitively priced when compared to some of the other options. Aristo makes stainless steel versions of all their brass sections. I've heard good things about the stainless, but it's also much harder to work with in terms of cutting, drilling, bending, etc. The larger rail of these track are very robust, and can withstand a great deal of abuse from feet, hooves, paws, and other things that go "bump" in the night.

There's also flex-track available in this rail size, with a few different choices for tie strips. Aristo makes a more standard-gauge looking tie strip. Hartland makes a more narrow gauge looking one. LGB makes a narrow guage one as well, but it's a european style, not Hartland's American style. (Check out the photo opposite the table of contents in the December 05' Garden Railways for a good shot of the Hartland strips.

You can also cut your own ties and use the code 332 rail that these manufacturers use.

If you wanted to go with the code 250 rail, and forego the trouble of cutting your own ties, you get the biggest bang for your buck using the AMS flex track. They offer it with two tie profiles--narrow gauge and standard gauge. I'm using this in the back yard, and have been quite pleased with it thusfar. (It's been down since August.) AMS doesn't yet have switches on the market, so I'm using Sunset Valley switches instead.

If you're set on doing it yourself, you can get code 250 nickel silver switch kits from Llagas Creek, and just cut your own ties to go under the rails. (The kits are cheaper than the Sunset Valley switches, so they're worth the savings if you want to cut your own ties.) They also sell tie-strips and nickel silver rail so you can use their stuff for your track as well. I prefer the AMS stuff as it's a bit more robust than the Llagas Creek ties are, and the rails slide through the strips far easier.

Later,

K

[ttrigg]

Brad:

After spending most of a year quietly reading the numerous postings here, I decided upon LGB brass rail and switches. From what I've read here I'm led to believe that LGB switches seem to be the most long lived. LGB track has been declared "elephant proof" by a few members of this forum. I've since had several 20~30 pound rocks fall from my "mountain" to smash into the track without any apparent damage. I've even "slid" five gallon paint buckets full of rock along the track to the tunnel "construction site". The only change I've made in the last year and half is to pull off the standard track connectors (except for the ones I've soldered) and replaced with split jaw clamps.

There are several less expensive ways to go, with some of the other products. For information there you will need to listen to someone else.

Brass and Nickle-silver track ages well and quickly. A quick cleaning (light sanding) every now and then is all that is required (at least for LGB Brass).
Steel track will also weather well, too well in fact. After a few months it will require more maintenance than anything else in your entire garden.
Stainless; well the name says it all. If you want it to "weather/age" you will need to do it yourself, as mother nature won't. On the "flip side" since it will not age like the others, you are looking at (nearly) maintenance free operations.

Pressure treated lumber: If you look at the cross section of a PT 4x4, you will see that the central 1 ½ inch (or so) will have little to no preservative in it. Thus Pressure Treated lumber is not a good source for ties. Pine is the quickest rotting wood I know of. Even PT Pine rots faster than plain untreated redwood, and by far faster than cedar. I echo Kevin here, cut your ties from redwood (or cedar), throw them into a 5 gal bucket, pour in the preservative and let them soak for a day. Depending upon your climate, redwood should last 6-15 years, treating will add at least another 5-6 years, Cedar, even longer. My neighbor got some pressure treated pine fence posts five years ago. We replaced them this last summer when the fence fell down from rot, and this is in sunny and warm San Diego. The untreated redwood posts I used ten years ago on the front fence are still holding strong.

[twcenterprises]

As far as the Nickle Silver "rusting", it doesn't "rust" per se, but I've had some in HO scale that corroded after ballasting track. I don't recall the brand (might have been the old european style Atlas) but it was code 83 track. I do recall it having a slightly "brassy" look to it. I was thinking about using Micro-Engineering for the garden, or the llagas Creek if it's somewhat cheaper. Stainless may just be too expensive for me. I don't particularly care for brass.

As far as the PT pine, did anyone try the heavily treated (.40, ground contact rated) stuff? This stuff is supposed to be guaranteed for like 50 years. How about using something like Trex, that plastic/wood composite deck board type[#dots]stuff? Yeah, it's pricey, but it looks like it would survive 100 years in direct contact with the ground. I might be able to find some scraps from someone's deck project for free. I'd probably have to predrill for spikes, though. It looks and feels heavy enough to stay put. Thoughts/comments?

Who makes a reasonably priced rail-bender?

Brad

[CandCRR]

Kevin,

Yes I guess "rusted" was the wrong term, but the track disintegrated with "silver" pieces of metal peeling off the railhead and it was kind of "brassy" looking (like Brad stated above). I do not know the brand (nothing printed on the rail or ties). So be careful if you use Nickle-silver, make sure it is good quality.

Jaime

[FJ and G]

Brad,

I spoke w/one fellow who uses Trex and he complained about its expansion and contraction. I can't really verify what he said but he didn't like it.

As to n/s rails, I'm (as we speak) laying ROW code 148 n/x rail on cedar (stained w/ Thompson water seal) ties.

I'm doing a 100 ft loop in O scale and I'll report extensively on how it holds up here in N. Va. The rail itself is pricier than a lot of larger G scale rail, costing me about $80 per 99 ft of rail.

I''m soldering leads b/t each rail segment for good continuity. I'm unsure of the best means of cleaning the railhead (or even if it will be necessary, as N/S "corrosion" is supposedly somewhat conductive (unlike brass).

I can't imagine n/s decaying all the way thru though, but am hedging my bets with this small layout for about a year's trial.

If the effects are ill, I will lay the much larger planned loop in stainless steel code 215 from gargraves.

cheers

[Greg Elmassian]

I use stainless Aristo. My first two loops of track were H&R stainless and a mix of USA and LGB brass.

Even for these 2 small loops, cleaning the brass was a pain. Instead of deciding to run trains, and having to clean first, I just ran on the stainless. In addition, the stainless was in the front yard where it was watered and run over by a lawn mower. The brass was on the back patio concrete.

The H&R is excellent stuff but twice the cost of the Aristo SS. With the yearly Aristo track sale (Jan & Feb) the cost is about the same as LGB.

I'm sitting here surfing, and watching my Aristo RDC run around the back yard, just picked it up and put it on the track. I saw a couple of low spots, and ballasted those sections, lifted the track at the low spots, and hosed it off while the RDC was orbiting the loop. It never stopped.

The SS track is one of the best decisions I have made.

Regards, Greg

[Anonymous]

Steel will rust easily; stainless steel looks more realistic than brass, but costs more as well and is easier to maintain. Nickel-silver and brass are about the same thing and cost about the same. If I were you, I'd go with brass rail.

[c50truck]

Brad,
I'm still trying to learn and set up my first G-scale track also. Thanks for asking the question, I'm learning right along with you. I cannot add to the discussion on what rails to use, but being in the lumber industry, I would not recommend Trex or any composite decking material for ties. It is comprised of some wood but mostly vinyl bi-products, and will expand and contract with the weather. Ask for “all heart redwood” and avoid the common grades of redwood sold at most big boxes. The sapwood in the common grades is prone to rot.

[GRR7315]

Brad,
have had my 332 brass on the ground outside for 6 years now, last summer picked it up for realignment and although using all manufacturers: ARISTO, LGB, USAT, I found UV total deteriation on one brand... will salvage rail by buying tie strips from ARISTO and experiment with LGBs roadbed under switches. Looks dirty as heck, but found the Trackman cleaner to be excellent! Run year 'rnd. Used original connectors with screws and Loctite blue, and mixtue of railclamps this summer. Realignment again this summer, way to much tree debri from neighbor's maple, will reuse all building materials and make it about 41" high, like the live steamers!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kstrong

If you wanted to go with the code 250 rail, and forego the trouble of cutting your own ties, you get the biggest bang for your buck using the AMS flex track. They offer it with two tie profiles--narrow gauge and standard gauge. I'm using this in the back yard, and have been quite pleased with it thusfar. (It's been down since August.) AMS doesn't yet have switches on the market, so I'm using Sunset Valley switches instead.

What Kevin said. I just rec'd four boxes of AMS 250 brass from St. Aubins and the stuff is awesome in it's appearance. I'm using the flexible road bed system and I think this track is going to be a lot easier to install than trying to fit preformed sectional track. AMS has the buy four boxes (60' per box in 5' sections) get one free deal that Aristo has, but it's over at the end of this month, (as is Aristo's). FWIW and good luck.