steel rails

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Have you run across an old stash of steel rail? I ran trains on one layout that was mostly steel rail on Tru-Scale roadbed. It was DC block control. The owner used Wahl clipper oil to clean his track. His trains ran well enough and he had no more difficulty keeping his track clean than those with contemporary trackwork. He also had a dry basement. I am not sure how well the increased demands of DCC or sound equipped locos would work out.
 


I've been using steel on my layout for about a year and half with no issues, but it's in a very dry basement. And I clean my tracks about every six months with alcohol and use a block under one of the boxcars whenever the trains are running.
 
I used steel rail on my layout in my trailer here back in the late 90's because it cost a bit less. It was all right for a while but the high humidity here started causing problems with rust. No matter what I did the rust kept coming back and was becoming more frequent. I finally ripped it all out and went to nickel silver which I had used on previous layouts.
 
What is the best is lead-steel alloy rail. It looks the same as real rail, because of the steel, but the lead keeps it from rusting. It flexes better than nickle-silver, and is a better conductor than brass or nickle-silver. The main problem is finding it, as it hasn't been available for a long time.

Timothy Dineen
 
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