Was sitting back last nite and was thinking about nickle silver track and brass track, and wondered how many people still use it or use some of it at all. Was at the LHS yesterday and noticed he still has allot of brass track in bundles for sale its all new, but had a cheap price on it. We see tons of brass track on ebay, from Tyco, Bachmann, and Atlas.
I have some on my sidings and some of my switches are the older Atlas with slow motion machines on them. Most of all of the older flex, straight, and curves have been sold over the years. Notice it goes for cheap on ebay, and was just wondering how many still use it or don’t use it.[:)]
I don’t think that you will find many who still use it. There are probably plenty who have some on older portions of their layout I’m sure, but I kind of doubt that there is much widespread use today.
I am sort of surprized that your LHS still has brass track in stock. That stuff has not been made for a number of years now. My last layout that had some brass track was torn down in 1968! I have used nothing but N/S on the 3 HO layouts I have built since then. I do not care wahat ‘good, cheap’ price you can get brass track for, I would not waste money on the stuff. It looks bad, and you do need to clean it all the time.
I have 2 switches at a far end of a passing siding that are brass, as well as 2 roundhouse stalls with old Atlas brass. THese are all on the older part of the layout, but even that is newer than brass track, at 10 years a couple months ago.
You may be surprised just how much brass track is still out there, the reason it’s not known is it’s a non-issue, c’mon, it’s track ! ! not really an earth shaking topic, who cares if the top of the rail is brass? when was the last time you saw the whole rail silver?? It seems when people buy new “stuff” they assume everyone else out there has done the same thing and this is now the norm, of course if this product is no longer available this may have a slight bearing on it. You can be assured(as responses on this forum have noted) a lot of MR’s have and still use brass with great satisfaction, so it takes a bit more care, so does the whole hobby, I assume people that use brass track just don’t think it’s an issue unlike the people that converted to n/s. By the way, for the amount of brass track that was made ,a surprisingly small amount is available, it would seem most of it is destroyed upon removal and thrown out and people can’t be bothered to salvage it.
You guys should check out Large Scale where brass track is still the most common track out there. All of my track is brass indoors and out, its simply the most common and cost effective track out thier for LS. Of course we have real weather issues to deal with, so we need a track that doesnt deteriorate exposed to rain and UV sunlight. Brass does this well although it does need to be cleaned regularly. Their is a shift to stainless steel track, but its still less expensive to use brass. Aluminium was also used but it was found to deteriorate and pit, mostly to electrolysis with the air or with the surrounding soil. Dont even think about steel, it will rust to nothing in a short time.
Brass is also good for the display shelves when the trains are not making thier rounds on the layouts. You do not have to weather brass since it tarnishes to a dark color.
I have brass track and switches on my “Learning” layout. I thought it was a good way to use all the old brass track I had collected over the years before committing NS track to a more planned layout. As I have never actually built a layout before, I have a lot of questions I want to answer by trying things on the test layout first.
Other than not “Physically” connecting the brasws to NS, is there any reason why both can’t be used together (other than more cleaning)?
I don’t have much brass rail at all. Most was “retired” and used for other projects. It’s great for gondola loads, or along the line in MoW scenes. It’s also great for rail fences. Why use new nickel-silver rail, when used brass rail can be bought cheaply. My local hobby shop has brass track sections for 50-cents apiece.
I don’t usually buy it but a few weeks ago I got a darn good deal on ebay. I picked up 8 new remote switches for $20.00 !! with swich machines. So I made an exception. They were all new in the box, Atlas. They were about 30 years old but I just couldn’t pass them up.
A friend of mine still uses brass track…Of course his layout was built in the 60’s!! [:0] I also know of a club that 80% of its truck is brass.This is a old club dating back to the dark ages.I am happy to report that both layouts operates smooth.
tatans,
I did not mean to get you upset about this topic, I was just wondering how many people still use it. I have some on my layout still and was just wondering how many other MR still use it.
I don’t want to make anyone mad here so I will remove the topic I stated here, sorry!
Whoa-hold on, I’m not the slightest bit upset, in fact this is a good post, as you can see by the replies a lot of us old fogeys still like brass rails, pleasedon’t remove the topic, some of the replies are great, I also re-read my original statement and don’t see where you would think I was upset(which I’m not) By some of the replies, contrary to a few responses, there still is a lot of brass out there and it sure serving it’s purpose.
Well, according to our favorite source of info, the Walthers Model Mall, Brass Bachmann switches are still available, but will be discountinued when sold out. Same with the Lifelike crossing ‘track expander’ set (several pieces of snap track in a blister pack). And that’s it for brass track listings (detail parts, like rail joiner bars, on the other hand, are common enough).
I remember picking up steel track decades again at a discount hobby shop. The clerk, when asked how it differed in operation from brass, said: “Well, steel rusts”. And it did.
No more brass for decades, it looks funky (although N/S doesn’t look all that fired more realistic) and it’s hard to keep clean (and quite possibly, since not much HO scale brass track is made, probably it lost it’s only redeeming quality that I remember - it was cheaper than N/S)
Tatans,
No problem, just didn’t want the post to go array, I might have looked at your post wrong, sorry! I like this one here about being on a tight budget, I hear you bro. We all have to tighten the belt to afford things we want and need.
Tatans,
Don’t feel bad, I’m one of the old timers to, in my 40’s and still have not finished my recent layout, its going on 3 years now! Surprized I don’t have weeds growing along the buildings.
Most of the brass track I have is on my siding yard and is easy to get at by hand, I keep the track shined like gold using MOTHERS metal polish, stays clean twice as long.
I have 1.6 ho miles of brass
I have been trying to get the peco NS flex
its pricey but I cant seem to get a deal
or I get toped when I do
I guess If I had known in the beginning
nic silver is what I would have gone with
I have slooooowly (5 switches so far) converted over
track stays clean when trains run just like the prototype