rrinker Most metals react with oxygen.
Most metals react with oxygen.
Platinum does not react with oxygen. Or much of anything else.
The oxides formed by many are non-conductive - the only way to stop this is to seal up your layout room and fill it with pure nitrogen, but that may make operations difficult. Other metal oxides remain conductive, if at a lower level than the base metal. Such is the case with nickel silver. --Randy
The oxides formed by many are non-conductive - the only way to stop this is to seal up your layout room and fill it with pure nitrogen, but that may make operations difficult. Other metal oxides remain conductive, if at a lower level than the base metal. Such is the case with nickel silver.
--Randy
Randy,
I should very much like to hear about "metal oxides [that] remain conductive".
Apparently rhenium oxide is as conductive as metallic silver. Who knew? What others have you found?
But here, we're talking about oxides of copper, nickel, and zinc. When I do an online search for oxides of these metals, I find nothing about them being conductors. Nickel oxide, for example, is plainly stated to be non-conductive. Copper and zinc oxides can apparently be semi-conductors at times, but I still found nothing hinting there were conductors.
Ed
rrinker Few if any of the schemes that use IR sensors can duplicate the 'car somewhere in a block' detection you get with track current sense methods of detection.
None do unless you use the bounce detectors (ones that point up at the bottom of the car) every (insert shortest car length) across the whole railroad.
rrinkerSo even if the propulsion power doesn't come through the rails, some power needs to flow there for block detection.
This makes battery power redunant in my mind, because all the problems it solves, are still problems (=>solves nothing). Kind of like keep alives. I have always said that they are neat, but just a band aid solution to the actual problem (be it broken pick ups, insuficient feeders, dirty track or dirty wheels).
Taking the control circuit off the track is a logical step blutooth, or radio now can fit in a locomotive.
Still need some sort of 'area' detection for signalling. The prototype uses the track. Our models have always used the track. So even if the propulsion power doesn't coem through the rails, some power needs to flow there for block detection. Few if any of the schemes that use IR sensors can duplicate the 'car somewhere in a block' detection you get with track current sense methods of detection.
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
hi all here is my 2 cents ( not that it's worth much as I like selector am the farthest from an electrical engineer or metalurgist as well )
How about we do away with the whole issue by not using the rails to conduct energy. This way you could us any metal to create the rails as the dirt would become less an issue.
What i am saying and I'm sure this will happen eventually.With micro circuts and battery tech getting smaller and better. I can for see even n scale radio control engines controlled by wifi for command control and direction speed etc. With a small abttery pack powering the locomotives themselves. Certainly this will be expensive when it first arrives on the seen but with time and sales the cost per unit would go down. I know that garden rail folks are already douing this,so in time we indoor types may reap their rewards.
TB
Platinum eh why not titanium if its good enough to hold my spine together its good enough for rail.
Joe Staten Island West
mobilman44Have to say, I enjoy the clickety clack of steel wheels going over rail joints. Of course my layout is set in the '50s, when welded rail was minimal....
You could use a razor saw to make shallow cuts in the railhead every 39'. This would give a real prototypical clickety-clack.
Track fiddler...They start making Platinum track I'm going to go get a job there....
A big lunchbox is one thing, but one that's three feet long might raise a few eyebrows - unless, I suppose, you take subs for lunch everyday.
I remember my Dad talking about a guy with whom he worked, supposedly rather "light fingered". Somebody had bet him that he couldn't swipe an especially large bench vise.Apparently, he came to work one day wearing a long overcoat (luckily, it was in the winter). When he left work that afternoon, the vise was between his legs, suspended on a very sturdy rope that he had wrapped around his neck and shoulders. As soon as the guy was out of sight of the guard, the vise was ditched.There were incidents at the steel plant where I worked where contractors would leave the plant with either company or other contractors' equipment. This included office trailers, and heavy equipment, like front-end loaders and backhoes. Why bother building it from pieces when you can get it r-t-r?
RR_Mel....When I was piddling with G gauge in my garden railroad I did have a problem with the G gauge brass rails. When ants got crushed on the rails if left on the rails their remains would eat the brass. I had to run a heavy scrubber car in every train. I tried some Green stuff to prevent the ants from using the rails as freeways but watering would do that in. I ran a Centerline car with the roller soaked with the Green stuff and that helped but ants were still a big problem for the brass rails.
The problem was caused by the formic acid in the ants' bodies.
Wayne
Order rail in 1/4 mile long strips or make it that long like prototype railroads do.
In my area, the Pan Am railway has had 1/4 mile, 136 lb, ribbon rail put down for a new Amtrak routing.
They used new ties with Pandrol clips and the upgrade was quite fast. no more spikes.
New turnouts were assembled nearby before the rail was put down.
Quite something to see a long string of flatcars with layers of 1/4 mile ribbon rail.
A lot less clacking. I ride a bicycle on the road near the mainline and sometimes carry bike accros the rails until the new tunnel is finished in Octtober. Rail trail on both sides of the main.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Corrosion is the result of an oxidation process, in which metals react with oxygen, ending in the turning of metals into various oxides, which we commonly call rust.
I have brass track that is older than me, often stored in an uncontrolled space. It's badly tarnished, but not corroded. A good cleaning and it would probably be usable (some of it is actually fiber tie flex, amazing it isn;t curled up, but still probably out of gauge).
The oldest nickel silver track I have is probably 20 years old. Also not corroded.
It's not so much a corrosion issue (unless you are building an outdoor layout at a beachfront house by the ocean) as it is an oxidation issues. Most metals react with oxygen. The oxides formed by many are non-conductive - the only way to stop this is to seal up your layout room and fill it with pure nitrogen, but that may make operations difficult. Other metal oxides remain conductive, if at a lower level than the base metal. Such is the case with nickel silver.
7j43k People have declared that nickel silver rail corrodes. Platinum does not corrode. Ed
People have declared that nickel silver rail corrodes.
Platinum does not corrode.
Ed,
As mentioned before - and in just about any application - it depends primarily on how well you take care of it. (FYI: Even stainless steel can corrode under the right circumstances and conditions.) Polish/burnish and minimize the amount of abrasion to the surface of NS rail and it should serve you well for years. Exotic metals is a waste of money...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
How would any of the materials mentioned in this thread be better than nickel silver?
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
rrinker Good news is, unless you're trying to get a full size loco from GE, you won't even need a buddy with a mobile home. --Randy
Good news is, unless you're trying to get a full size loco from GE, you won't even need a buddy with a mobile home.
Lol. Right.
mlehman They start marketing platinum track to those who can afford it, burglars all over the country will be casing model railroads -- and ripping up the track whether or not it's platinum. Good grief, Charlie Brown
They start marketing platinum track to those who can afford it, burglars all over the country will be casing model railroads -- and ripping up the track whether or not it's platinum.
Good grief, Charlie Brown
They start making Platinum track I'm going to go get a job there.
I'll be like Johnny Cash with my big lunch box.
And I'll build it one piece at a time and it won't cost me a dime you'll know it's me when my train comes through the town.
Bayfield Transfer Railway MicroEngineering will sell you 6' lengths of rail.
MicroEngineering will sell you 6' lengths of rail.
M E sure likes thier 6's. I laid my cork for 5 and 7 turnouts. Although I have heard of people mixing Atlas with M E. I'm not sure how that will look.
Have to say, I enjoy the clickety clack of steel wheels going over rail joints. Of course my layout is set in the '50s, when welded rail was minimal.
Good information to be had on this thread !
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I soldered code 83 rail into 12' and 15' lengths for using it with Central Valley tie strips. To accommodated the rail joiners, I used a cut-off disc in a motor tool to alter the base at each end of each 3' section of rail, making the base both thinner and narrower, then used code 55 rail joiners. Obviously, the rail joints are still there, but they're not all that obvious, even when you're looking for them. The rail was affixed to the tie strips using contact cement.
And there you go!
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
Track fiddler The greatest thing the model railroad track manufacturers could do is give us 8 foot length rails we could thread the 30 to 36 inch plastic ties so we have less joints on our curves. That would be a good thing.
The greatest thing the model railroad track manufacturers could do is give us 8 foot length rails we could thread the 30 to 36 inch plastic ties so we have less joints on our curves.
That would be a good thing.
Huh. Thanks for clarifying that one for me NittanyLion.
I suppose driving on the highways and breathing that air everyday is a little worse than all the fuss about secondhand smoke. Things that make you go hmmm.
I think I better re-rail this thread back to subject before we all get in trouble.
I think more importantly than changing the alloy that track rails are made of. The greatest thing the model railroad track manufacturers could do is give us 8 foot length rails we could thread the 30 to 36 inch plastic ties so we have less joints on our curves.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Track fiddler Huh. Can some one please explain to me why Platinum is needed and what its purpose is for in a catalytic converter.
Huh. Can some one please explain to me why Platinum is needed and what its purpose is for in a catalytic converter.
Platinum is used in a chemical reaction to convert the nastier bits of a car's exhaust into less nastier stuff. You ever notice car exhaust doesn't smell as bad as it used to and makes you less dizzy? That's because the platinum is converting the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. Still stuff you don't want to breathe, but you won't die as fast?
I wonder if Rod Stewart used Ed's code 83 Platinum rail on his magnificent layout.
If he did I guarantee you he didn't get the materials from catalytic converters.
That's why there is a brisk business in stealing catalytic converters from cars - the platinum and palladium found within are worth a significant amount of money.
Track fiddler 7j43k So consider spending the extra few dollars for the clearly superior rail: Code 83 Platinum! Ed That's a good one Ed. They could sell it at the Goodman Jewelers track Supply. One could take out special financing for thier track plan. And no ring for the wife. Lol
7j43k So consider spending the extra few dollars for the clearly superior rail: Code 83 Platinum! Ed
So consider spending the extra few dollars for the clearly superior rail: Code 83 Platinum!
That's a good one Ed.
They could sell it at the Goodman Jewelers track Supply.
One could take out special financing for thier track plan. And no ring for the wife. Lol
My eldest Son (47) is a Metallurgist who for the past 20yrs. is a buyer and seller of precious metals. Not too long ago.....like the past 5yrs. Platinum was worth more than Gold, by a fairly large margin. Believe it or not, where He got most of it from was Automotive catalytic converters which He bought in lots of thousands of pounds...had the Platinum extracted and resold it for a pretty hefty profit as is all the precious metals He handles. The interesting part is...He never touches any of it......just buys and sells it.
Another interesting note: Is the fact that His wife and Him can't have Children, but they wanted them so they adopted new born babies. They have 4 adopted children, 1 girl and 3 boys which are in their teens now. A new born adopted baby from an Orphange is roughly 28,000 dollars with a long waiting list and You are totally screened for a year prior to even getting on any prospective parent list.
Just thought I would throw that in...for everyone saying there has to be a cheaper better way for toy track........a better way.....bio clean room, with no outside oxygen. Mike said it in the beginning.........
Take Care!
Frank
One other thing about Code 83 Platinum: the electrical resistance is about the same as nickel silver (nowhere near real silver).
So, if you feel the need for multiple rail feeds for nickel silver rail, the same will hold true for Code 83 Platinum.
For most of us, that's not a deal-breaker.
Oh, yeah. It takes soft solder nicely, making it superior to difficult metals like aluminum and stainless.
For those of you on a budget, I would suggest first using Code 83 Platinum in hard to reach areas, like tunnels.