I was preparing plans for my first G-scale outdoor layout this spring, and thought that based upon various posts that Aristocraft stainless was a good way to start out. However I recently saw a comment online from a railroader in the NW (?) who said that he already needed to replace cooroding track after being in use only one year. Can this be so, does anyone have additional input? With the current price of this material I want to be certain that my choice will result in less maintainence and better power distribution. Thoughts?
Well, I don’t live downwind from a cement plant or some sort of caustic manufacturer, but i’d bet whatever track he puts out will rot away. I’ve had Aristo SS out since 2002 and wouldn’t go any other way! Several club members who swore by LGB brass have now switched over to using Aristo stainless after seeing how well it has held up and how much less cleaning we stainless folks do. I’m quite happy to pay the premium in cost as I feel its money well spent!
I to have switched to SS and yes I have seen some rust spot’s, very few I live 15 miles or so from a refinery and have rose’s that have some acid in them . just a wipe of cleaning pad and its gone. I will never switch back to brass.
Dave
Boy, that must be one heck of a nasty place to live if it can corrode stainless steel in a year. I guess he’ll have to get that titanium track [;)]. I have 350 feet and a dozen switches of Aristo stainless down and quite happy with it. I believe its the standard for track power.
-Brian
Stainless will likely be a good choice for corrosion resistance.
We use Llagas Creek nickel silver rail and SplitJaw stainless steel rail joiners. They’ve been out for 6 years now without a hint of tarnish or corrosion. I believe nickel silver and stainless steel are fairly similar in corrosion resistance.
We initially used SplitJaw brass joiners since that’s all they made. After a few years these got badly tarnished and lost a lot of conductivity. Thankfully by then SplitJaw came out with stainless joiners. And the switch to stainless joiners was a smart move since conductivity has never been better. Although we mostly run battery powered train now [:I]
But Aristo stainless should be great for your outdoor layout. Plus you won’t have that icky (at least to me) yellow shine of brass when it’s new.
Yes, I agree here, stainlesss steel is the way to go, if you plan to run track powered trains, I’ve been using it for about three years now and have no plan to ever return to brass.
Byron
I am surprised that someone/anyone reports rust or corrosion in Aristo Stainless track. It is hard to believe actually. There was a report early on, and I see it too, of some kind of brown, staining in the track metal. This was reported by Aristo not to be of any serious consequence. It is very minimal and has no effect on conductivity. It is clearly not rust or corrosion. I still stand with the others in saying Aristo stainless track is an excellent product. I have been running on mine for almost four years now, with no problems. By the way, I live only about six miles from the ocean as the crow flies.
Paul
The picture below is rust this section of track was missed by the track crew when the ONBR was absorbed by the Parent road ( DNRR ). Note this section was covered with heavly furtilized sand for the NEW grass seed.
Dave
Thanks for the votes of confidence in the ss track 
I had seen the article the other day on the web but per usual when I tried to find it again it had diappeared into cyberspace.
And now for a couple of follow-up questions about track selection. I had planed on purchasing a half circle each of a 9’ and 6.5’ Aristocraft curves to install at either end of existing flowerbeds, then connecting the two areas utilizing flex track and I have a switch for an initial storage siding. I am familiar with HO and N flex track and its continued flexability. does the Aristocraft maintain the shape of the bends after a curve is created ,or does the piece need to be permanantly affixed in order to keep its shape? I have read some about bending rails, etc. but didn’t know if that just applied to hand laid track or if this might also be the situation with flex track.
Ok, I give up. If you bury the track under sand/dirt, and water it, and don’t run trains on it, and never clean it. MAYBE it will show some color change. Usually, we keep the track out exposed to the sun, dry, and run trains on it. In four years, I have never seen anything like the picture above.
Paul
Unless you are a fanatic about little stuff, go with the biggest sized curves you can. Most of the bigger and more modern locomotives and cars require at least an 8 foot diameter curve, and of course will look much better on ever larger. I like running Multiple units of big diesels with long trains and my 20’ stuff sometimes makes me wonder if I should,t have gone bigger. Likewise, my Pacific with a bunch of Heavyweight cars would look silly on the 8’ stuff.
Your little stuff will look that much more realistic on big curves, and you then have the option of running bigger stuff. If at all possible I’d stay with a minimum main line diameter of 10’ and you could get away with 8’ on sidings and in yards.
Like Capt Bob said I use 11.5 and 10 ft
this show’s the gap ( not required with larger radi. )I will remove car’s are on 11.5 diam.
Below is a test I used before buying more track it is 9/10/11.5 ft diameter
Just in case you have a need for passing track’s
Dave
RRRuss,
I bought a couple boxes of 16.5’ dia SS track for my helix. I figured I didn’t want to go inside the helix to clean it so wanted the most maintenance free track I could get. My helix isn’t perfect so some tweaking was required with my rail bender to get everything to line up and stay more or less in the middle of the woodwork. Let me say this about bending SS - it isn’t easy. A wrench is required to “adjust” the rail bender whereas brass can be set by hand. I use split jaw clamps to keep everything together. Once the track is bent the way you want it then you have the task of squaring up the ends with your trusty demel cut-off wheel. It takes a few of those. Once down it is about as solid you can get.
I wouldn’t go any other way in areas where access isn’t easy. For the easy to get to sections of track I use brass because it’s cheaper and easier to bend and cut.
Rex
Yes I agree DW,
However I’ve even found that the 10 Ft Diam track is way to radical if you want to run long trains say 30 to 40 freight cars or more and I also don’t really like the way the USA passengers look on it, so I’ve got about 3 boxes of it that I’m not even going to use in my line now, I don’t use less than 11.5 Ft Diam on my mainline and that is only on about a 1/3 circle into the train storage room,
which will later be bypassed after adding the additional loops of track now being designed, than it will be no less than 14 Ft diameter.
Byron
Thanks for all the feedback, I plan to use the largest diameter curves that I can within the existing space.
I am planning on using long sections of flex track to minimize connections, etc. Does the Aristocraft SS flex track maintain the curves that you shape it in to without affixing it to the roadbed? Or does it remain flexable similar to HO and N gauge track?
Once the SS track is bent, and it takes a pretty fair amount of force to bend it, it stays bent until you apply the same amount of force again to rebend it. I would not recommend using anchors in the road bed to hold the track in place like a spring. Loaded springs could be dangerous. Purchase or borrow a good rail bender and you’ll be fine.
Rex