"Brass Track Fever" not to confused with Cat Scratch Fever


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dano126

New Member
I've been blessed with a fair amount of brass track in H.O. gauge,(code 100) and wonder if anyone has mixed it with nickel silver, and what results you've had with the functioning with it? I started to rebuild my layout after a fire, that was 15 years ago. At that time, I did replace some of the components of my layout, with the insurance money from that tragedy. Now, as I'm starting this project, I've found that I need some track pieces, cross overs, turnouts, mainly. But HOLEY COW, have prices on these things and others, have sky rocketed in fifteen years!
So, if anyone has any advise as to if I can mix the brass and nickel silver, and not lose electrical performance, that'd be great.
 
Can it be done? Of course, it's all the same size and gauge, it will connect up. Will you loose electrical performance? Probably, since oxides of brass are insulators. The reason for switching to nickel silver was its oxides are conductive. Maybe a thorough cleaning and going to a wet rail system will help keep the track from oxidizing. Wet rail is operating with a thin film of oil, transmission fluid, graphite, or similar on the rail. Supposedly, it keeps arcing between the track and locomotive wheels to a minimum and extends time between needed track cleanings.
For further reading,
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/3229
 
Forgive me, but if it were me I'd feel cursed if I were confined to using that old stuff. Not only is the brass a maintenance horror causing stall outs if not constantly chased after. Assuming this is Atlas track, the black plastic ties under it are out of scale; too wide each, too close together due to, and code 100 rail measures out to be about 12" tall rail in real size. Near all high trafficked main lines in the 1:1 scale use about 9" tall rail (excluding the ties)..This rail is usually 152 Lb; meaning a 1 yard slice of it weighs that amount. Code 100 would represent say, 180lbs..
This is not to say you have to care about these things. I'm not dissing you over it..It's just food for thought.. M
 
The vast majority of my original layout is a mix of brass and nickle silver on both main line and sidings. I really don't see many problems with it. It will definitely tarnish over time, but I haven't seen any connectivity issued that can be blamed on the brass. If anything, I have more problems on the nickle silver sections.
 
You can mix and match, but as others have said brass needs a little more maintenance. That said, I do have a lot of odds and ends in brass (atlas Code 100) pieces if you think you want to stay with that.

A place to save money is to watch for estate sales, auctions and local thrift shops (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.) as they sometimes have what you're wanting for cheap. That's where I've spent way too much of my spare hobby money lately.
 
I have a few brass switches mixed in they been in use for 30 years still work just fine I just clean them and my track then put a light coat of Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish on buff em and good to go
 
KB02, I don't think tarnish is what it does. I believe it oxidizes which causes the green mold on it..And unless they have been redesigned, I seem to remember that the code 100 frogs are plastic.. If so, do you not experience stalls or jerkiness with you engines through them ? Atlas code 83 has metal powerable frogs that many think are plastic because Atlas coats the frogs with black something or other, and which is easily removed. That teensy circular part on the 83 frog is for putting a screw through to connect the common wire to any electronic device which flips the polarity of the points via the ground throw...You can't do this with code 100s..
Finally, unless it isn't an issue with you and others, the 100 stuff is orange-ish-gold in color which is mighty tough to hide, and to me, at least, another reason to not use it..
Please read this as tech-talk...It's just my take on brass code 100, not an egocentric criticism.
;) M
 
dano126 said:
if anyone has any advise as to if I can mix the brass and nickel silver, and not lose electrical performance, that'd be great.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm, I posted to this last week. Don't know where that post went. Everyone else has pretty much said most. There is no issue mixing brass and nickel silver because really they are both "brass" copper/zinc alloys. Same electrolysis polarity.

The brass will improve electrical performance due to the higher copper content. So much so that I have a friend who uses old brass track instead of copper wire as his DCC bus.
 
I have some brass code 100 flextrack with fiber ties and some turnouts, including a few double-slips that I use with nickel-silver on my layout. I do live in a dry climate, and experience no problems with the brass track. Oh, occasionally I will see some dirt on the top of the track, but I either use a Brite-Boy or a soft cloth with a little Walls Hair Clipper Oil to clean it. As a matter of fact, I re-routed some yard lead and used the first thing that came to hand...a piece of the old brass with fiber ties! The thing I have always liked about the old stuff is the staples on every other tie, which makes it much easier to hold a given shape of curve than the modern stuff with plastic ties where the one rail slips until you lay it down permanently. Some of the old turnouts from Atlas and others, now no longer available, are great in certain applications.
 
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