Has anyone changed from brass to stainless track. Is the stainless better? Does it stay cleaner longer ? I know it doesn’t conduct as well as brass. What are the pros & cons?
Stainless stays clean longer but since I’m not using electric track power, my preference is for brass, since it’s (usually) less expensive, looks more prototypical (except possibly for the tops), it solders easier (lower heat), and I believe it may even bend a bit easier and is easier to drill through, should you want to. My understanding is that clean brass conducts better than stainless but keeping brass clean is more of a challenge. I think that pretty much sums up the arguments. Basically, there’s no perfect material. Each has its pros and cons.
Not sure how it’d hold up outside, but on my inside layouts I use silver polish to help with conductivity. I hadn’t cleaned my track in 4 months on my HO (due to college) and my Walthers GP30 walked away with the train like it did before I left.
(Aside: I just got an interesting idea for expanding my HO’s possible run. Rather than use 2’ deep modules, use 1’ deep. For our metric friends and enemies out there, 2’ is about 61 cm. 60.96, but who’s counting?)
Depending on where you live i`m in England brass is much better the weather can course a lot of problems with s/s. Brass may need cleaning more but I have had no problems with it. I use LGB track and turn outs All my connection are 100% ok[:D]
For my outdoor escapades, I love brass over anything else. I know that you dont have to clean stainless steel as much, but still I love the hands on experience of working with my railroad.
I have a mix of stainless steel and brass track. Brass corrodes much more than stainless, but because I run exclusively from battery power it really doesn’t matter to me. I have no electrical connections at all to any of my track, so I can’t say if brass conducts better than stainless, but in theory it should.
Well I run a mix of track power and battery. I am thinking about converting to battery only. If I do I will probably keep on cleaning the tracks out of habbit, and I am known as the guy with the cleanest railraod.
I don’t know if any of you know much about electrolysis, but it occurs when you run electric current especially DC throug dissimilar materials. You should do your best to have a fe junctions of dissimilar materials as you can as in the long run you willpay a heavy price.
Rgds ian
Well I guess I am going to stick with brass.
Yes what happens with electrolysis is that the DC current in particular will pick up part of one material and try to deposit elsewhere, similar to many other processes such as galvanisingwelding etc. The whole matter is exacipated if you have moisture present particularly a slightly impure atmosphere such as smog, salty air etc.this makes it worse again,
'Ian
I guess you could put an insulated rail joiner where the stainless & brass track join & connect seperate feeders to either side of the joiner. Also ,for some reason , I always thought Stainless sleel was not affected by it as much as other metals. Jerry
It won’t be a problem. We’ve used stainless screws in our brass track for years.
If you weigh the pros and cons, I mean actually chart them out and see graphically what is going on, you will see that brass is the preferred choice for garden track. Corrosion happens, but is minimal because of the specific metallurgy used. Manufacturers are not stupid by any means, and they rely on the strength of the name to sell their product, so the brass used is highly resistant to corrosion. Stainless needs cleaning as much as brass (maybe not as frequently) because of the film of bird poo, leaves, and other natural goop that builds up on the rails. Brass has a much larger choice of track profiles, radii and switches (point/ turnouts whatever). Brass is also a lot cheaper. Durability is at least equal; you will wear out brass in about 400 years, stainless maybe 475, and in either case you won’t be around to see it. Conductivity is barely an issue, assuming track power, 10 plus amps is enough to push the voltage along just fine, and neither brass nor stainless will conduct through a loose, corroded connector anyway.
Logic and fact point to brass as the best material. Now if you prefer the look of stainless, then have at it! In the end it’s your choice alone what to use.
Hope this helps.
Well that is intresting to know.
Jack mate;
I must disagree with you on the matter of conductivity, Stainless is no where near as good as brass, this is measured in mohs which is the oppossite to ohms and you can get figures on the rate of cuncuctivity or the reverse thereof reisitance for any given CSA (Cross Sectional Area) of both materials and really SS is not so good as you would thnk.
Also current doesn’t have a lot to do with level the level of passage of electricity through a given material, it is in fact just that (the passage of electricity) but what causes the flow of electrons is the voltage applied to it.
Please send me a can of beer in the mail to my address here on the Sunshine Coast.
rgds ian
Ian, I’ll have to agree with your disagreement, with a caveat. SS is not as good a conductor, that is true, but as far as garden railroading is concerned, it’s not as much an issue as it’s made out to be. The difference is not very noticable, unless you take a measured reading, but as far as how the trains run, one material is as good as the other. You are correct on voltage/amp definitions, but amperage will help the voltage get through dirty connections (not so much the material), that’s my point. I think there is just too much controversy over which is the “perfect” material to use, in my opinion there is no perfection, only a logical decision on what is “best” to fit the individual need.
In the case of garden railroad track, given a standard set of known values (cost, selection, availability etc), brass is the most logical metal to use based on a one for one comparison with stainless. The wild card values are mainly involved with personal taste and vision (ie do you want shiny rails forever, or do you want a nice brown realistic rail?). I was hesitant to use brass outdoors when I first came over from HO scale because brass is crap to use inside, this lead to an initial&n
Thank you mate, thank you very much. Your idea that we are similar people is quite correct; as i would do the same to you, only do it first and harder.
rgds Ian
Well I am just gonna pull a Switzerland here and claim neutrality.
Yes Ian, some day maybe we can down a few at the pub together and get a little crazy. I think that would be great fun indeed! We could split the cost of the damage, but you have to pay for your own bar tab.[swg]
I hardly go to pubs anymore with regard to drink drive laws. However i did go a few times in Ireland and here i was at 2.30 AM a bit drunk and singing old Irish songs. We rung home and as it was about lunctime the next day there they reckoned we were nuts, being drunk at that time of day.
And on the way home in Dubai, here i was at midnight out in the desert, dancing with a belly dancer; not bad for a 70 year old.
rgds ian