Hey all,
I am just getting back into the hobby after almost 20+ years. I have built a flat table which is going to be one end of the layout and then the rest will circle the room on roughly 12" shelves.
I just unboxed all the track I have from way back when. How do I tell what code it is? Was it all standard back then?
Most of it says Atlas Snap track on the underside. I have a buttload of brass rail and then about 2 handfuls of nickle (which I will probably get rid of). What is the best way to clean the track up? The tarnish on the sides make it look like steel, but I want good contact too.
Rob
Robert H. Shilling II
You won't find much enthusiasm for your choice of brass with the membership here. Most would urge you to use, and to stock up on, the nickel silver since its oxide is many times for electron-friendly than is the oxide of brass.
You can use a Bright Boy eraser-type cleaner, 600 grit or finer sandpaper, a steel washer, metal alloy mag wheel cleaner (Mother's or Black Magic), or some swear by paint thinner, lacquer thinner, and even isopropyl alcohol. Avoid, if you can, harshly abrasive techniques, such as sand paper with a grit count below 600. They can leave nasty grooves etched all over the rail heads that become repositories for crud, and they increase the surface area that will succumb to oxidation by grooving the surfaces.
The code of your track is almost certain to be good ol' 100.
-Crandell
Rob,
First of all welcome back. You find yourself in the same quandry I was in after a similar layoff. In 20 years the hobby has experienced a great deal of advancement. I ended up getting rid of my code 100 brass sectional track in favor of nickel silver flex track and new turnouts (PECO in my case) that look and work much better than what I had. My advice is to spend some time and see how and with what you want to proceed and make some plans before jumping back in. There is lots of good advice here and certainly lots of opinions. Good luck. J.R.
Welcome back.
Model track code is measured in 1000ths of an inch. So code 100 is 100/1000 or .1 inches high.
I don't believe Atlas ever made brass HO track in anything other than code 100. The track can probably be cleaned, but the turnouts will probably have problems and may require jumper wires to the points.
In addition to cleaning the rail tops you'll need to clean the sides and bottoms where the railjoiners go. Buy new railjoiners - I'm not sure you can clean the old ones enough and new ones aren't that expensive.
Unless cost is a major factor I would just toss the brass track and buy new nickel silver, it looks better and has fewer electrical problems. When an engine doesn't run you can set it aside and run another engine, but when the track or turnout has problems it takes part of or all of your layout out of operation. Better to have less track that runs trains well.
Enjoy
Paul
So, if one was to go out buy new track for a short line railroad, what are the suggestions? Which track is more realistic without having to handlay track?
Also, has anyone ever tried to use the "fan-fold" foam insulation for under siding as a roadbed? It's not very thick and I was wondering if it was maybe too thin for a realistic roadbed. It could work in yards though.
Rob welcome back ! I agree with the other post here about the brass track with one minor difference. You may want to keep the brass for a display case . That is what I did with some of my old brass track straight sections. Installed it in a dispaly case made by a friend of mine and thats where I have some of my engines. Just a thought.