No its not April 1st. But another odd idea popping out of my brain. Of course the engine would have to be battery powered and RC. Well then the track would be 2 rail. But then, plastic rails might not really be that quiet after all. Just an idea.
NO Thank-You
Paper rails is the way to go. Nice and quiet.
But, but, if we had plastic rails we wouldn’t hear the clickety clack sound!!! Also the plastic would attract alot of dirt because of static electricity too, so that would be a no for me too.
The absolute worst product I’ve ever seen was the K-Line Husky set which used plastic track. The track broke easily when just trying to connect it, and most of he track that didn’t break, broke when trying to disconnect it. That would be a really BAD idea. But it seems to work with some of the Large scale crowd.
You certainly don’t want track that brakes–or breaks!
Good catch!
Some track that worked good would be fun outside. As stated a battery R/C engine with your three rail rolling stock would work.
I had a battery powered O gauge K-Line set. As Bob noted, the plastic track connectors easily snapped with no good way of fixing it. It was interesting to run the engine - a big ugly Pennsy GP9 - on the layout with just the IR remote. The train was so powerful, we also ran it on the floor - the youngest enjoyed watching it sidle around like a snake - what did I expect for $39 bucks.
Got me thinking RC would be a fun and interesting way to run trains.
No Thanks! Most folks view O Gauge Trains as quality merchandise & plastic track would ruin that perception. If one wanted trains with plastic track & batteries, all they would have to do is run over to Wallyworld & buy one of their cheap $10.00 Battery operated Train’s with plastic track! No need for Lionel or anyone else in O Gauge to market such stuff. I do not like Lionel’s G Gauge plastic trains with track either & feel that is a bad idea! Take Care
The newer Lego trains use plastic rails. Batteries are short lived. Lego metal topped rails are in short supply, and are highly coveted.
Kurt
Never heard a quite train go by. Why all the concern for toy trains to be quite? Is it the spouce complaining? I used Soundstop under my Realtrax and found it did reduce the noise. The noise I have now is acceptable.
All you need to do is blow the horn and whistle excessively when starting out, getting the dogs all riled up. When wife complains, just cut back on the horns and whistles and the complaints stop. [:D]
Jack
I think rubber rail is the way to go. That way they could eliminate traction tires.
How about track with a geared center rail, then the train would pull probably more than it’s own wieght. We would have burnt out motors left and right.[(-D]
Hmmm - how about one of those zero-G trains that runs over a series of electo-magnets. I bet you could get a good train model going 20 to 30 MPH before it flew through the wall?!