For the last 6 months, I’ve used my 40-year-old brass track as layout templates or temporary track to help me position the roadbed before I glued it down. Now, that phase of construction is coming to an end, and the wife is complaining about the space still occupied by building materials and supplies.
So, what do I do with this stuff? Are there people who want it? I’m happy to give it away. And, if the answer is “It’s a collectors’ item, so put it out by the curb on Thursday and they’ll collect it,” then that’s fine too.
I am hyper budget constrained If you are willing to donate it to a good and loving home. E-mail me. I would be glad to take it off your hands if its free. As long as trains can roll, Brass track is acceptable to me. I plan to bury it in yards and in places where locomotives don’t travel that often.
You could also use it to model abandoned trackage, overgrown with weeds, etc. Since you’d never really run a loco on it, conductivity wouldn’t matter. I’ve seen some abandoned track modeled before and it really looks nice, even have a few small trees growing up between the ties, etc.
I’m a brass track addict, just try and find some , of all the millions of feet of the stuff around it’s almost impossible to find, must be people are throwing it away, there are still a few of us out there that swear by it, can it be that bad or is the nickle stuff 10,000 times better ( I somehow doubt it). I keep asking LHS and of course they just sneer at me for asking, if you ask around I’m sure there are people out there that will take it gladly. good for you to see if someone needs it.
Could also use it on shelves or in a carrying unit for storage or transporting equipment. As “BAD” as brass is, a little elbow grease and a bright boy make it functional in short order!
Will
Send it to James above or take it to the next train show and give it away. The only reason to use brass track is economic. Nickel silver looks better and needs less cleaning. I used brass when I first started out because the price differential was significant and I didn’t have much money. For small layouts with no hidden track it can work since you can easily clean the whole track with a bright boy.
Enjoy
Paul
I’ve copied the following fromthe Shinohara thread…
. don’t waste them… they make great MoW Gondola loads. I’ve seen pics of them loaded on edge and on frames at an angle to keep them within the loading guage. It’s a really messy load but it looks great/different.
The other thing to do is use them at trackside as parts taken out waiting to be removed or parts waiting to go into use. The exact pattern for this will depend on your era… modern stuff tends to be done in panels …older stuff tended to be moved (often by hand) as smaller components.
Then again… You could do all three…
Put the blades in a Gon as a load (maybe on a flat)… either used or new.
Take the common crossing and guard rails and set them beside a switch needing new parts (neatly stacked… new parts are expensive)
Pile the long ties (safely clear of trains) waiting disposal and “weather” the adjacent switch ties as brand new with new ultra-clean ballast (AAAAGH! I’m back onto ballast)!
That deals with the switches… if you have plain track… they can load about 8 -10 deep on a flat … mch more on a load than we use here. Also we tie track panels down with cross straps… the nylon flat ones with ratchets like on a centre beam flat or truck… but the pics I’ve just seen had chains with tensioners from the car ends to rail bars or the rail bar bolt holes on the top track panel only… so only four tie downs for the whole load… EEK!. I think that the cars were 60’ flats with about 40’ rail lengths.