Brass track, is it so bad?


M

maczimb

Member
I have read a lot of comments about how bad brass track is, but nothing about why??
Brass track was used extensively at one time, cause that's all they had.
I am aware of the oxidization thing, but was it that bad.
When was it first used and when did it go out of favor?
I was given a bunch of the stuff and only used a couple of turnouts but never had a problem.
Your opinions are appreciated.
Mac
 
Brass oxide isn't conductive; the modern nickel-silver apparently doesn't oxidize as much or has a more conductive oxide.

Plus, it looks more like steel.
 
If you run metal wheels daily on brass, I doubt that oxidation would ever amount to much. Mind you, you'd have to cover all the trackwork, including sidings, spurs, ladder tracks, bay tracks in a roundhouse, etc.

Or, cover the brass with a lube such as Wahl's Clipper Oil. I see in the latest MR that transmission fluid also works. If you can provide a barrier to oxygen and moisture, you should be fine. If you don't, and don't run trains often, you will have to scrub the rails.
 
It can be pretty bad, especially if you don't add plenty of feeders. Part of the problem is that the rail joiners also oxidize and lose conductivity. Add plenty of joiners and many problems with brass are avoided.
 
Brass Track

Hi again.
The reason I was asking about brass track, is that I have a bunch of the HO stuff that I have no use for. At a minimum there is enough to make a 4' X 8' oval, plus a couple of turnouts, also got a couple of cheapo locos, all excess to my requirements. I will even through a cheapo controller.
As this was all gifted to me, I would like to pass it along to anyone that might have the desire to get a taste of model trains prior to spending money??
The cost will be whatever the post office charges, my guess would be about $10.00.
There is no catch here, I just want to reduce the clutter in my garage.
Email me.
Mac
 
Mac, try and steer clear, you'll just end up frustrated. Even if you treat the brass track with tranny fluid, No-Ox, clipper oil, or CRC 3-36 and solder rail joiners, you'll just end up frustrated. You will end up having to clean it regularly. The best use for brass track is as rail piles at the side of the track or on a rail car. Just my two point five cents worth.

Roy
 
When I was a teenager, my father and I had a 4x8 HO layout using brass track. "Everybody" used brass track back then, and it seemed like we spent more time cleaning track than running trains. Ugh!

- Jeff
 
I use a mixture of brass and that alleged nickel silver track, that really isn't silver at all.

I don't seem to have any more problem with the brass areas than I do the alleged "silver" track areas. Granted most of my layout is pretty new, but most of the track is old used track. It all needed cleaned before anything ran. That was a couple months ago, and I haven't had to clean anything since yet.

I do solder most joints, and I have multiple feed wires.

I'm really puzzled by the fascination with silver track and claims it doesn't cause problems when it tarnishes. It's even on the NMRA website as silver. The track really has no silver in it.

Even if it had silver (which it doesn't), silver has sulfidation issues in low pressure connections.

So I'm at a loss. In about a year I'll have a good handle on the brass and see if it is that much worse than the silver colored track.

Tom
 
Theres no silver in nickel silver, just like how there's no dog in a hot dog, and how white chocolate is not white and not chocolate ;)
 
I don't think it has never been a secret that there is no silver in nickel silver track. The material is an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, typically in a 60-20-20 ratio. It has been around for at least a few hundred years.

It is also known as German silver because metallurgists in that country re-discovered the formula for it in the 19th century when looking for a material that visually resembled actual silver. Whether you call it nickel silver or German silver, it's simply the name given to the alloy. It's not as though track makers are trying to deceive us!

- Jeff
 
jdetray said:
I don't think it has never been a secret that there is no silver in nickel silver track. The material is an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, typically in a 60-20-20 ratio. It has been around for at least a few hundred years.

It is also known as German silver because metallurgists in that country re-discovered the formula for it in the 19th century when looking for a material that visually resembled actual silver. Whether you call it nickel silver or German silver, it's simply the name given to the alloy. It's not as though track makers are trying to deceive us!

- Jeff
Click to expand...

Earlier in this thread you will find the same tone of statement made on the NMRA website, that brass oxide isn't conductive (implying silver oxides are). The track has no silver, but even if it did the problem with silver is surface resistivity and sulfidation...not formation of silver oxide.


The nickle silver track that came with my layout was worse to restore than the brass track. All the brass took was a couple passes along it with a very fine wet sandpaper. The nickle silver actually required more effort.

I think the idea a train has to be run daily is an exaggeration.
Since that cleaning time I have stubs that sit unused, and with no coating at all they are OK in the Georgia humidity for weeks on end. So far the only problems that have shown up are connections inside turnouts (high resistance that pressure or flexing changes) and one known joint resistance problem on the nickle silver section.

I had a bunch of connection problems early on. All of the locomotives had a coating on the wheels, and the wipers on axles were poorly connecting. The wheels would transfer coating to the rails, and I'd have to wipe it off the rails with a WD40 wetted cloth followed by alcohol and a rag. The lines I was using would get messed up from all the stuff built up on wheels. The line not being used stayed good.

I finally just took a few days and cleaned all the wheels and that problem stopped. I'm not sure what was on the metal wheels. It looked like the stuff that collects in my hairbrush. :) Trainderruf.

Anyway, I'll get some idea how often I have to maintain the brass and nickle not-silver rail.

Why does the NMRA website have a tutorial up about the benefits of silver rail when there is no silver??? It may not be that the manufacturers are misleading people through misleading claims, but it seems people are being misled by omission.
 
Brass Track

It would be interesting to know just how many of the "Nay Sayers" have actually had experience with the dreaded brass track??
Mac
 
maczimb said:
It would be interesting to know just how many of the "Nay Sayers" have actually had experience with the dreaded brass track??
Mac
Click to expand...

My layout is about 50/50 brass and nickle tracks in each of the two main lines. Since each has equal use and I'm in a non-climate controlled garage in Georgia, I'll keep an eye on it. I should get a good idea over time.

Tom
 
diburning said:
Theres no silver in nickel silver, just like how there's no dog in a hot dog, and how white chocolate is not white and not chocolate ;)
Click to expand...

Ill go on a limb and say Nickel Silver rail likely got its name because the rail is silver colored. But they made silver colored rail that was made out of steel so who knows.
 
ChevelleSSguy said:
Ill go on a limb and say Nickel Silver rail likely got its name because the rail is silver colored.
Click to expand...
It is called "nickel silver" because the metal contains nickel and was developed to visually resembled actual silver. This happened in the 19th century when metallurgists wanted a material that looked like silver but was cheaper.

See post #11 above.

- Jeff
 
My 2 cents... My current main layout is brass. I rebuilt my 1970 built layout about 16 years ago for The Kid and myself to enjoy. I laid all new LifeLike and Atlas brass track, as Atlas brass is what the original layout was built with.

I didn't know any better. I didn't know brass was no good! :eek:

In the last 16 years, I've had ABSOLUTELY ZERO problems that can be blamed on the brass track!

I hadn't been in the train room for over 2 years, except to store stuff in there. I haven't run a single train.

A few months ago, I found a couple buildings in a box in the basement that someone had assembled shoddily. Over a period of a couple weeks, disassembled them, reassembled them correctly, painted and weathered them, while working on a few non model railroading projects.

When I got done with them, I went in the train room to set them somewhere on the layout.

While I was in there, I turned the power on. The lights and sounds came on, and I sat in the chair and looked around.

I grabbed Cab A on the MRC Twin Power, turned the knob and the Cass Mountain Scenic RR Shay powered Fan Trip train rolled out of the siding.

Grabbed Cab B on the old Twin Power, and the GN FA's rolled out of their siding with a 20 car freight in tow.

I ran several different trains that had been sitting on the untouched for over 2 years for several hours that night, with no issues. I did not clean the tracks. I just turned it on, and it ran trains.

I also had no issues with the nickle silver Atlas part of the layout with the Digitrax... once I found the manual and a battery so I could start that part of the layout! :rolleyes:

I will admit that all new track laid will be NS... brass is getting hard to find! :D

Rotor
 
I have had no more or less problems with brass than I have had with NS track. My brass is now used only on display shelves because the NS is more realistic after weathering (top of rail looks accurate). Like roter says, brass is harder to find any more, but the price is usually good...free!
willie
 
Rotor
I like your train outhouse pic. I wonder if there is a model of it.
RRoouthouse.jpg
 
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