That silvery glint...


Hmmmm. So then I have to ask myself would I find it more visually distracting to have the rails be nickle-silver colored only at the turnouts and crossovers while the rest of the track had silver rails, or have the whole track be wrong colored to my eye? Decisions, decisions. Fortunately it's all still theoretical as we have yet to even build benchwork much less lay track, but this issue is one I have to make a decision about before we purchase a thousand dollars worth of track with the wrong color rails. I'm still hoping to hear from folks who have used both NS and steel, and can give a meaningful comparison.
Hugs,
Diane
 
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Does anyone have experience soldering steel rail (track feeder and rail joiner)? It seems that it would take awhile for the rail to heat up and possibly melt the ties.
 
Steel track should take heat quicker than nickel silver but you are right, that leads to a problem for any plastic to melt or be effected quicker as well.
 
Hmmmm. So then I have to ask myself would I find it more visually distracting to have the rails be nickle-silver colored only at the turnouts and crossovers while the rest of the track had silver rails, or have the whole track be wrong colored to my eye? Decisions, decisions. Fortunately it's all still theoretical as we have yet to even build benchwork much less lay track, but this issue is one I have to make a decision about before we purchase a thousand dollars worth of track with the wrong color rails. I'm still hoping to hear from folks who have used both NS and steel, and can give a meaningful comparison.
Hugs,
Diane

I don't see much steel rail at all. I operated on one layout that was almost entirely Tru-Scale roadbed with steel rail. It could be a bear to clean the track. Most layouts I see use nickel silver rail and paint the rails for proper appearance. I would not want to have to file steel rail when hand laying turnouts or crossovers. Life is too short!
 
Has anyone tried to polished Nickel/Silver track? Seems to me it should shine brighter then steel if polished.

One other thing to consider if you mix metals. Their can be some strange corrosion where they are joined together. I don't have any experience with mixing model railroad track metals, but I have seen some very strange corrosion when 2 different metals are joined in industrial applications.

For one example; Aluminum and copper used as a conductor the joint corrosion can cause heat and even be a fire hazard, but a fire hazard would not be a problem at low voltages and currents used in model railroads.

Even different compositions of steel can cause strange corrosion.
 
So then I have to ask myself would I find it more visually distracting to have the rails be nickle-silver colored only at the turnouts and crossovers while the rest of the track had silver rails, or have the whole track be wrong colored to my eye?
My eyes must be totally different because I don't see hardly any difference in a well worn rail and nickel silver color.
Here, once again the yellow glint in the reflection is due to the yellow of the headlight not the rail.
SmithRoadSmall.JPG
 
Does anyone have experience soldering steel rail (track feeder and rail joiner)? It seems that it would take awhile for the rail to heat up and possibly melt the ties.
Steel track should take heat quicker than nickel silver
You think? I would say the opposite. I always thought that was the reason that model trains are made out of brass instead of steel. Sounds like another science project.
 
Iron Horseman,

My reply might be a bit ambiguous, what I meant was that steel will heat up quicker than nickel silver but I might be wrong if you thought other wise.
 
My reply might be a bit ambiguous, what I meant was that steel will heat up quicker than nickel silver but I might be wrong if you thought other wise.
Yes that is what I thought, but I know my brain well enough to know it is often wrong. Hence the need for a science project.
 
Here is another silvery glint image I would not know wasn't nickel-silver if I didn't know better. Could even be stainless, tin, real silver or solid nickel for all my eyes can tell. Do you have an aerial photo that might help me understand?
7132997_orig.jpg
 
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