#100 or #83??

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone:

I used to be in to moedl railroading several years ago. I am now getting back into it as my 9 year old had a school project due that called for a train. We both decided to begin the project of building a railroad.

Question: I was on the Atlas website and saw that 100 and 83 tracks are nickel. I have some very old Atlas track that has brass/burnt copper rails, but definitely not nickel. Do they still make this track? Will this track work with today's newer track? What type of track is this?

Thanks for all your help me and my 9 year old appreciate any advice you can give us.

[railroadyoshi]

I don't think they still produce Brass track. Brass was replaced by Nickle Silver because unlike Brass it doesn't oxidize, causing poorer current flow to your locomotives.
That said, Brass Track is still 100% usable. It most likely is code 100. If you choose to buy some new NS and use it with your brass, you can choose to either use Code 100 NS or you can use the more realistic Code 83 and use transition joiners where the track changes.

Best of luck, welcome to the forum, and welcome back to the World's Greatest Hobby!

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jleblancjr
I was on the Atlas website and saw that 100 and 83 tracks are nickel. I have some very old Atlas track that has brass/burnt copper rails, but definitely not nickel. Do they still make this track? Will this track work with today's newer track? What type of track is this?

As railroadyoshi said Atlas no longer produces the brass track. The current code 100 track is 100% compatible and will connect right in. I have Atlas brass sectional track that is 40 years old and still works fine.

Code 83 track is more realistic looking but it is less rugged than the code 100. If this is for a 9 year old and possibly going to school with other 9 year olds I would recommend the code 100. In that context I think the higher durability would trump the looks.

[Berk-fan284]

To add to the previous posts stick with the code #100 track if you have or are going to run older locomotives and rolling stock with the older style large flanged wheels. You will have less derailments and problems from the larger flanges riding on the ties or bouncing in the turnouts on the taller #100 track.

[jecorbett]

If you are serious about getting back into the hobby I would scrap your brass track and buy new nickel silver. If you are going to build a permanent layout, the day will come when you'll regret it if you make the old brass track part of the layout. Some things are worth keeping and recycling. Brass track does not fall into that category. Whether you go with 100 or 83 is a matter of preference. Both will run newer locomotives equally well. Some brands of older locomotives, notably Rivarossi, had large wheel flanges that actually can come in contact with the plastic ties of code 83. The average person isn't going to notice the difference but I think code 83 looks better. Not only is it closer to correct scale size, the ties on the Atlas track are narrower and spaced closer which I think looks more realistic. I haven't bought code 100 in a while but I think Atlas makes that with black ties while the code 83 has brown ties.

[Anonymous]

i use #100 but thats just me and eveyrbody's got their own opinion. the old track is almost certainly #100

[Anonymous]

Hi.

Welcome back to the hobby. The size of track like has been stated before is a personal preference. The "Code" as it is called states the height of the rail in thousanths of an Inch. So Code 100 is 100 Thousandths and Code 83 is 83 thousandths of an inch.

As for the Brass track. I find that while it does oxidise faster than Nickle silver, I find it quite usable. I find brass track quite managable on a small layout like a 4X6 or a 4X8.. To clean it, I give it a good thorough wipe down with rubbing alcohol. and then when the "Back stuff" is done comming off of it. I give it a good polishing with some polish my father gave me, that is intended to polish brass musical instriments. I found that if I run trains frquently.(At least once a day for at least a half hour) The track only needed cleaned every two weeks or so. However giving the same treatment to nickle silver track will yeild for me a good solid year or so between track cleaning. So its a personal preference to say the least. But if your budget constrained like me. The shorter cleaning interval might be a desirable trade off. However I reccomend make any brass track you do use, out in the open. Hands dont fit to well in things like tunnels.

Just some of my rambling thoughts.

James