Adding a Third Rail to Aristo-craft Track

[GP-9_Man11786]

Has anyone ever tried adding an ouside thrid-rail to comercial track such as Aristo-Craft? Here on Long Island, this is how the electric trains recieve their power. This could add a unique touch to one's railway. However, I don't know what code rail to use (The third-rail is about 1/4 the height of the running rails and Aristo-craft track is code 332). Nor do I know how to go about attaching it.

[markn]

will it be "powered" or dummy?

[GP-9_Man11786]

Most likly a dummy so as to minimize extra work.

[markn]

Just some ramblings-if you want to do this, I'm assuming you are running the G gauge track as 1:29 with ex a FL-9 type (I am familiar with the operation but have never seen the actual track or detailed photos) and assuming you are not a hardcore rivet counter and you want a quick and dirty fix to see if you like the look, how about this--HO track would be about a quarter of G (1:29/2 G~1:48 O 1:48/2~1:87~=HO)-get a piece of flex track-cut the center of the tie the same distance as the amount outside the the rail (you will get two third rail sections for each flex section-glue that to the Aristo tie-you may want to use "hot glue" or something removable til you see how it looks, then slide the HO track out of the ties and cut the HO ties out where they span the Aristo ties-slide it back in and it should look like it's only attached at the Aristo tie. Unless you use Brass HO track the steel color will clash with the Aristo brass but let it rust, put a dummy shoe on a F7 to poli***he top of the rail and it will look like a real rail--cut and fit, that's the fun of the hobby-Mark