steel v. brass

[Anonymous]

I'm planning a small outdoor garden railway (a simple oval plan 30' x 6' in a flower bed) Should I use brass or steel track? I'm in the desert in Southern California so the temperature can get very hot. Also, the track will be watered every day by my garden irrigation and my water is very hard. In addition, I'm planning on using Aristocraft track. Any suggestions regarding track selection would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know that anyone made plain steel rail in large scale sizes, are you thinking of stainless steel.
If so, then either stainless steel or brass will work out just fine in your situation.
Nickel silver rail will also work just as well as stainless steel and is cheaper, solders better and bends easier.

If your running battery power then you may want to consider aluminum rail to keep the cost down.

OLD DAD

[cacole]

I have both stainless steel and brass track that have been down for over one year now, and neither is showing any signs of corrosion in the dry Arizona climate.

I originally intended to go with only stainless steel rail, but only the Aristo Craft #6 turnouts and curved track were available in stainless, so all of my straight track is brass.

Since laying the track, I have decided to forego track power altogether in favor of on-board battery power and the AirWire 900 DCC wireless control system, so even if the track does corrode that's now a moot point.

I have, in the meantime, operated a Heartland Doozie rail bus around my entire 60 x 20 foot layout using a Model Rectifier HO-scale power pack connected to the rail in only one place with alligator clips, with no noticeable power loss.