Track recommendations

[Anonymous]

I am looking for suggestions on which gauge #1 track to buy... To start I'd like to run it around my deck, however as time/money permits id like to eventually move it to the garden... With several brands out there, why would I buy one over another...?
Thanks in advance for the help...
-Michae

[Anonymous]

good question. The guy in my hobby shop said that Arista track was basically the same as LGB track..any thoughts on that from you experienced guys?

[Anonymous]

The guy at my local shop was pushing the LGB track. He showed me side-by-side a LGB vs. Aristo. LGB looked better close up, but looking at the two from 'viewing' distance I couldn't tell the difference. I do like the selection of radius from Aristo, but I'm leaning toward LGB myself.

[Anonymous]

the price makes the differince aristo price champ. but if money ain't a problem go with lgb.

[Anonymous]

[#welcome] Michael,

It comes down to personal choice.

The Aristo rail stays bright yellow and sleepers are black. The LGB rail goes very dull and the sleepers are brown. As you point out, Aristo has bigger curves, and is generally cheaper.

The Aristo rail joiners come with little screws that screw into the side of each rail. They are fidley to get in and a lot of people moan about it. But you can leave them out and it will work.

If you are going to be setting out the track and packing it up all the time (on your deck) my feeling is the LGB would be better because of the shape of the rail joiner. If you are putting it down once permanently there is pobably little difference. You can mix them, but the rail profiles are slightly different, so you will need to modify the rail joiner slightly to get them to join. That's Ok if you are setting up once, by no good if you set up and pack it away all the time. You will end up damaging too many joiners, and have to buy new ones.

When it comes to points there is a differnce. LGB points are better because you can run any make of loco through them. Aristo points can cause problems for some LGB and USA trains locos, and you may need to modify them to get good operation (if you only plan on buying Aristo trains, you won't have any problems). If you have the room and the $, don't get the small radius points, get the next size up. You will be greatful later on.

Points aside, trains run just as well on either track so it's really up to you.

Glen Anthony.

[Rastun]

I have been looking at Sunset Valley Railroad's code 250 track in nickel-silver. Does anyone have any experience wth thier track or working with that alloy rail? Also any thought in general about that track or rail allloy would be appreciated.

Take care,

Jack

[Anonymous]

Rocky-C NZ,

What are 'points'?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mugect

Rocky-C NZ,

What are 'points'?

Mugect, switch and or turnout=points

QUOTE: Rastun Posted: 06 Dec 2004, 20:24:39
I have been looking at Sunset Valley Railroad's code 250 track in nickel-silver. Does anyone have any experience wth thier track or working with that alloy rail? Also any thought in general about that track or rail allloy would be appreciated.

Take care,

Jack

Jack, Most smaller scale track is Nickel silver such as Ho and N, Has good conductivity it replaced brass in these scales, however I'm unsure as to how it holds up outside, might want to look into making sure the ties or sleepers are UV protected

[Anonymous]

Michael this is the final and official word on rail as set out below.

Aristo has more nickle in its alloy than LGB which makes it harder meaning it will last longer under tough conditions. It also means its electrical conductivity isn't quite as good, but it is hardly measurable let along be noticable.

In my opinion if you don't solder them the screwed connections of Aristo is better then the pu***ype LGB connectors., ie less chance of a high resistance joint and better mechanical strength. However if you do as I do and solder them, the lgb connections are the best of the lot.

The extra hardware you can get from LGB (such as points (switches) are far superior in LGB particualerly the push pull action of the elctrically operated ones). Further the electronics that is available with LGB controls is just brilliant once you get it working.

Having said all that i use neither, i use our club rail which comes im 3.7 m (12') lengths and you assemble them yourself. Much cheaper and much more versatile and when you get used to bending and assembling your own track you wouldn't do it any other way.


Rgds Ian

The god of tracks

[Anonymous]

I use a mixture of LGB and Aristo.Permanently laid down and no problems.All points are LGB.The price of the Aristo makes it a first choice for me in England.
Troy

[Anonymous]

In planning stage of my out door train. Is flex track good choice? From price for me is good. Any help appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Yes flex track is good. In fact it is better for straights than the set track, because it mean less track joins.

It's not like the flex track in other scales where you can bend it as many times as you want. To do it properly you need a rail bender tool to bend it. If you are careful you can do it just with your hands but it can be a hard job. It is good for big curves. If you plan on having tight curves you are probably better off to use the set track, as it can be quite hard to bend it into small radius curves depending on how much experience you have had.

Glen Anthony.

[SandyR]

If you like short-coupled locos like 0-4-0T and the like, don't get the wide radius switches. The little guys stall on them.
SandyR

[markperr]

If you're looking at code 332 brass, you have three basic choices. LGB, USA, and Aristo. If you don't mind paying somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 bucks a foot extra then buy the LGB track. But if you're money conscious like I am, then 100 feet of track equals a new locomotive, 500 feet of track comes out to a pacific and a few heavyweights. It's my understanding that USA and Aristo track are idenctical and that LGB's web is a little wider. Otherwise, there is no electrical or mechanical difference between the three. I have both LGB and Aristo track on my layout and they have been there for about three years. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference at a casual glance. On top of that, starting next month and running through the end of February, Aristo has a buy four boxes of track and get the fifth free. You can mix and match, curves and straight. You just have to send a copy of the receipt, ten bucks, and a request for what size track you want them to send and inside of a couple of weeks, the fifth box of track is sitting at your doorstep.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Funny thing you should say that Sandy I do have such a problem from time to time and I didn't know what was doing it, but i don't get it all the time. My Mallet couldn't care less my ICE train very rarely has a hick up but my little Stainz plays up a quite a bit. But if you have smaller switches, double bogies don't like it either so where are you?

Regards Ian

[Rastun]

Hi all,

Do any of you happen to know what co-efficient of expansion numbers mean? I talked to the people at Sunset Valley Railroad about the nickel silver track and they said the nickel silver is very similar to brass in conductivity (the nickel silver's oxide conduts better) and expansion (brass a rating of 12.6 and nickel silver rating of 11.0). Thanks for any information you can give me.

Take care,

Jack

[Anonymous]

Hi Jack,
Going back about 20 yrs to physics class - let me see if I can get this right. Coeff. of Linear Expansion is a number which describes the length to which material expands as its heated. i.e. If you have a 6' long piece of flex track, it will be 6' + some factor of expansion at 100 degrees F in the summer, but will be 6' - some factor of contraction in the winter at 30 degrees F.

Why is that important? As you do all of your nice track work on a 65 degree day, that trackwork is going to grow / get longer on hotter days and is going to shrink on cooler days. On the hotter days, the ends of each piece of track will jam into each other, possibly causing buckling. On cool days, the ends will shrink apart causing larger gaps.

Part of the solution is leaving proper sized gaps at the end of each section when you build your layout / garden ry. If you're building on a hot day, you'll need less of a gap because the track is already expanded. Cool day laying track - need more gap. Track with a higher coefficient of expansion should have larger gaps and vice versa. Your hobby shop or the website of the mfgr should be able to suggest an appropriate gap.

Now how did that coeff of linear expansion calc go??? Coeff x cross sectional area x change in degrees C?

[Anonymous]

CTE (Coefficient of Themal Expansion) is a ratio of change in volume per change in degrees. As with all equations, you need to be careful of the units. It looks like your values Jack are ppm/°F.

Say you have a 12" brass section. 12"/1 million = 0.000012". CTE for brass 12.6 * 0.000012 = 0.00015"/°F expansion (less than 4 microns).

Now say there in Montana your summertime high peaks at 85°, daytime in the winter is 10°. 85 - 10 = 75°. 75 * 0.00015" = ~0.011", just under 1/64".

When you compare a CTE of 12.6 vs 11.0, the difference is minimal.