Husker, brass track is no longer made to the best of my knowledge so that should tell you something. The problems have been pointed out. It would be ok to start out with but I think if you and your son get serious about the hobby, you will want to eventually discard it in favor of nickel-silver. 8 years old is probably the youngest you would want to start someone in HO but if you are there to help him along, it should work out. Conventional wisdom says small children should have big trains which would probably mean Lionel, but I think he will like HO.
Now, speaking as a transplanted Husker myself, let me ask you an off topic question?
Bo Pellini or Turner Gill?
I would go with one of the companies who makes track that better suited to be used on the floor - track that comes with the roadbed attached. Bachmann has the widest range of products, Kato is probably the best looking but more expensive, Atlas looks good but is very limited in products out there. Any of these will work fine, the pieces snap together securely and work well. I'm just getting ready to start on a new basement layout after a move last year, and in the mean time I've been using Kato track to set up a test track on the floor when I'm say installing a decoder or something, it's worked fine being set up and put away a dozen times or more. (I also used an 18" circle of the Atlas track around the Xmas tree last year.)
Brass track is what caused me to leave HO in the early seventies. I started with a TYCO trainset with brass track, within a year or so nothing could make it once around the layout without stalling - brass wheeled engines on brass track!! I would have quit if I hadn't bought a friend's Lionel trainset for $3, ended up spending 15 years in O before going back to HO in the late eighties. I'm sure the guy giving you the brass track is trying to help, but the only good use I ever saw for it was my Dad bent up a piece of old brass rail to use to hang up our Christmas wreath with.
huskerrailroad wrote:I am wanting to give my 8 year old son his first model train for Xmas. I actually have a train set (cars and engine only) that has never been opened that I picked up a few years ago.What made me think of this as an Xmas present is my neighbor gave me a huge box of brass track. My question is, will this track run ok on very low pile carpet (almost a berber-type) ? If not, how about a hard wood floor? And does HO work ok for 8 year old boys?
I am wanting to give my 8 year old son his first model train for Xmas. I actually have a train set (cars and engine only) that has never been opened that I picked up a few years ago.
What made me think of this as an Xmas present is my neighbor gave me a huge box of brass track. My question is, will this track run ok on very low pile carpet (almost a berber-type) ? If not, how about a hard wood floor?
And does HO work ok for 8 year old boys?
Carpet running works just fine with Snaptrack, brass or nickel silver. For a boy, half the fun of electric trains is setting up the track, changing the track plan, adding turnouts, finding new routes for the track. Nailing the track down to plywood takes a lot of the fun out of the toy. At 8, he may need a little help getting the cars on the track, and a rerailer will be a boon.
The weak spot in carpet running is the rail joiners. The get bent open and fail to keep the track together, or they get squeezed closed and you cannot join the track at all. Buy a pack or two of fresh new rail joiners, and have a pair of needlenose pliers around to squeeze the bent open railjoiners tight. And a tiny screw driver to pry the squeezed shut rail joiners open. The used track will make a nicer Christmas present if you clean it up a bit. Ordinary brass polish (Brasso) will get the tarnish off the railheads. Then a trip thru the dishwasher, or the kitchen sink, will get the white polish marks, and a lot of dirt, off the plastic ties. While you are at it, replace the missing railjoiners, but don't use them all up. You always need a few more railjoiners. Then a bit of Christmas wrap.
After a good stretch of carpet running, then it might become time for a train table.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I too have an 8-year old boy so let me tell you from experience. The biggest concern will not be the corrosion of the brass, but rather keeping the track together. As mentioned above, if the track is simply connected together and set on carpet (or even an exercise mat), when your boy is playing with it, he'll undoubtedly step on it and shift it around, thus causing the track to continually fall apart. Trust me, this will be your greatest frustration.
I pulled out my old train stuff last year (brass track) and made a simple loop w/ the track SCREWED down to a piece of plywood. Didn't use roadbed or anything else fancy. I placed the plywood on some supports so it was off the floor, but everything was reachable by my boy. I gave him some paints and old buildings that I had and let him loose creating his layout. Sure the track would get a little gunked up now and then, but he was able to fix that himself w/ a block of wood and 600 grit sandpaper.
Totally agree about the re-railer - definitely a must have.
He's now hooked and we're working on our "real" layout (w/ NS track, etc.).
I agree w/ the comments about starting on the wrong foot. Certainly there's a balance since you probably shouldn't spend a fortune just to find out there's no interest. My only suggestion is a piece of plywood would be a minimal investment and would save some frustration.
As far as an 8-year old, you should instill a sense of respect for these models from the start. Even if they are cheapie cars, teach him how to handle them w/ care.
Good luck.
Your 8 year old will be fine with HO scale trains. I got my son started with the HO Thomas stuff when he was 4 and he transitioned himself over to the more prototypical looking equipment when he was 5. Just a little training on how to get the wheels on the track and he'll be off.
Have to agree, use a little better track, such as those with the built in roadbed, to avoid frustrations.
A lot of questions. Most people get off on the wrong foot with a " Train Set", add this to brass track laid on the floor & you are heading on a very discouraging trip.
As said before, If you don't start out right you will certainly give the hobby up. The brass track is going to be more trouble than it is worth,& since it didn't cost you anything,I would discard it .....without your neighbor's knowlege. The nickle silver track with attached base would be a good idea...also, don't put it on the floor. The rerailer is also a good idea.
If the "Train Set" is an earlier Bachman, that could be a problem also. They are not the best runners & usually don't hold up well.
Since it seems you don't have a lot invested at this stage of the game I would purchase A new Athern set that comes with the better track. You can use your other cars & try the engine at a later date. Don't want to see a potential model RRer get discouraged & give up. Jerry
Since your neighbor gave you a box of track, I assume it's all of a jumble. So in addition to cleaning the rails check each piece for flatness. If it's not flat toss it, trying to fix it is usually more frustrating than it's worth.
HO for an 8 year old is probably going to require your help. The cars can be hard for youngsters to put on the track, if you don't have one already, buy a rerailer piece of track liike this one http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/150-844.
Running trains on rugs is not a good idea due to lint and accidentally stepping on track. A mat could help, but you really want to get up off the floor. A 4x8 sheet of plywood on a frame is an easy way to start. Here's an article on the NMRA site http://www.nmra.org/beginner/bench48.html just make the legs shorter to match your son.
Enjoy
Paul
For someone new to the hobby, brass track is bad. If you haven't been bit by the 'bug' yet, the brass track will frustrate you and possibly lead you to another hobby (Noooo!). As I understand it, all metals oxidize (rusts). Brass oxidation is not conductive for electricity and nickel silver oxidation is mostly conductive for electricity. With a layout on the floor, dirt, fuzz and dust will settle onto the track and get into the small mechanisms of HO locomotives and will cause problems eventually. The ideal set up for a beginner would be nickel silver track mounted onto a table of some kind. The new snap track is nice but be careful, the black roadbed has steel rails and the grey roadbed had nickel silver rails even though they both look 'silver'. don't be intimidated by having to mount everything to a table. You only need a few sections fixed to the table (screws will let you move the track around easier than glue or nails) to make the layout stable and not slide around. The table can be as simple as a piece of wood, foam core, styrofoam, etc. It can be anything that is rigid to start out with and can always be reinforced later, or moved to a better surface, ie plywood. Don't worry about legs, slide it under a bed or tilt it up against a wall when you don't use it, to save space.
Keep asking questions, as you see, there are many people who have great ideas in this forum. Chances are they started out just like you and have encountered and overcome the same problems you have/will have. Enjoy the World's Greatest Hobby!!!
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SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
At this stage of the game, use the brass track if it is in good shape. Clean the top of the rails with metal polish as well as the ends of the rails where rail joiners connect the track sections, and the inside of the rails at turnouts where the points make contact. It might be a good idea to replace the rail joiners with nickel-silver ones as there could be a lot of corrosion there, with the track being so old. When you get to the point of making a permanent layout, use nickel-silver rail only. It requires a lot less maintenance than brass because it doesn't have brass's serious oxidation causing electrical conductivity problems.
Mark
Also, is HO scale OK for an 8 year old or too cantakerous?
Should I buy some track that has a "base" mounted to it, like I see on ebay? Would I be able to attach the controller for this set to that, or would I need to buy another one of those, too?
The brass track generally has a poor operating reputation because of corrosion on the track and general gunk that accumulates. Laying HO track directly on the floor/rug without any roadbed is also risky. Those railjoiners don't stay together well in that scenerio. Same is true as far as the joiners with wood floor. You just need something more to keep the track joints from coming apart.
Bob
Thanks in advance for answering!