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[#welcome] Newbies! (Hint: click on highlighted words for links) You may be tempted to buy used track on eBay but beware. AVOID BRASS TRACK. It takes a lot of work to clean and will not stay clean. The problem with all track is oxidation. With nichol-silver track, the oxidation conducts electricity. Not so with brass and steel track. Model Power makes their track from steel which will oxidize very slowly, but rust doesn't conduct electricity. Atlas has discontinued making brass track but it's still around in stores and a lot of used track is sold on eBay. E-Z Track and Tru-Track are made with nichol-silver rail. Brass and steel rail was the only scale rail available in the early days of model railroading. Old timer M.R.s used hair clipper oil to keep the brass to slow the oxidizing after polishing the rails. One thing you don't want on your track is oil. It attracts dust (another thing that affect conductivity on all track). Although oxidation on nichol-silver is conductive, there is other gunk that collects on the rail. Dust is number one and crud from plastic wheel tread is another. Most experenced model railroaders replace wheel sets on all cars and dummy engines with metal wheel sets. Other contaminants are tobacco smoke, pet hair and overspray from all kinds of sources (hair, bug, air freshener ect..). Try to keep them away from the railroad. Use a track cleaning bar such as a [url="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/949-521"]Bright Boy[/url] track cleaner. DO NOT USE SAND PAPER. The grit will get into the running gear of your locomotives. A must have tool is a [url="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/98-1"]NMRA Standards gauge[/url]. Wheels on locomotives and rolling stock need to be checked for proper gauge. This will greatly help prevent derailments. It's also used to check track gauge, turnout points and flangeways. Very rarely is there a problem with the track being out of gauge (unless you bent or distorted the rail when installing track), but it needs to be checked if derailments are a problem. Another gauge that is a must have, if you are using knuckle couplers, is a [url="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/380-205"] Kadee coupler hight gauge[/url]. All couplers must be the same height. Speaking of couplers, most likely your locomotives and rolling stock came with the old horn hook couplers. They work ok, but don't look anything like a real coupler and are not as reliable as knuckler couplers. Many new locos and cars come with knuckle couplers either installed or as an add on part. Since you are just getting started, it would be eaiser to replace the couplers and wheel sets as you build up the numbers of rolling stock instead of doing it all at one time later. [url="http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/380-85"]Kadee[/url] is the most popular brand and they have a huge assortment of coupler sizes to convert just about any equipment. Converting couplers on most cars and locos are a simple drop in instalation of a #5 coupler, so don't be concerned by the variety of couplers available. A note about wheel sets. You will notice there are different diameter wheels available. The choices of brands, sizes and axle types can be overwhelming to a beginner. Don't worry, If you have any questions about what wheel size a locomotive or rail car has, ask us here in Forums or you at Local Hobby Shop (LHS). It won't take long for you to be experienced in identifing wheel size and axle type. You might be thinking "Why would you need to change wheels on a locomotive if they already have metal wheels"? Well Athearn blue box locomotives, and some others, have something called sinthered metal wheels. It's a hard coating on the metal wheel to reduce wear. Nichol-silver plated wheels conduct electricity better and stay cleaner longer. I hope I haven't caused any beginners to be confused or make your head hurt. If you have any questions, ask. We're here to help. A good place to start would be to buy the [url="http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12197.html"] "Basic Model Railroading, Getting Started in the Hobby[/url] book.
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