Stainless steel vs, Brass

[RR Redneck]

Well I guess I am going to stick with brass.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if any of you know much about electrolysis, but it occurs when you run electric current especially DC throug dissimilar materials. You should do your best to have a fe junctions of dissimilar materials as you can as in the long run you willpay a heavy price.

 

Rgds ian 

[RR Redneck]

Well I run a mix of track power and battery. I am thinking about converting to battery only. If I do I will probably keep on cleaning the tracks out of habbit, and I am known as the guy with the cleanest railraod.

[cacole]

I have a mix of stainless steel and brass track.  Brass corrodes much more than stainless, but because I run exclusively from battery power it really doesn't matter to me.  I have no electrical connections at all to any of my track, so I can't say if brass conducts better than stainless, but in theory it should.

 

[RR Redneck]

For my outdoor escapades, I love brass over anything else. I know that you dont have to clean stainless steel as much, but still I love the hands on experience of working with my railroad.

[two tone]

Depending on where you live i`m in England brass is much better  the weather can course a lot of problems with s/s.  Brass may need cleaning more but I have had no problems with it.  I use LGB track and turn outs  All my connection are 100% ok

[Puckdropper]

Not sure how it'd hold up outside, but on my inside layouts I use silver polish to help with conductivity.  I hadn't cleaned my track in 4 months on my HO (due to college) and my Walthers GP30 walked away with the train like it did before I left.

(Aside: I just got an interesting idea for expanding my HO's possible run.  Rather than use 2' deep modules, use 1' deep.  For our metric friends and enemies out there, 2' is about 61 cm.  60.96, but who's counting?)

[FJ and G]

Stainless stays clean longer but since I'm not using electric track power, my preference is for brass, since it's (usually) less expensive, looks more prototypical (except possibly for the tops), it solders easier (lower heat), and I believe it may even bend a bit easier and is easier to drill through, should you want to. My understanding is that clean brass conducts better than stainless but keeping brass clean is more of a challenge. I think that pretty much sums up the arguments. Basically, there's no perfect material. Each has its pros and cons.

[jerryl]

Has anyone changed from brass to stainless track.  Is the stainless better?  Does it stay cleaner longer ?  I know it doesn't conduct as well as brass.   What are the pros & cons?