O gauge Trains

[stubs300]

I was hoping the pins would have been better.... but they are a little loose. They don’t pull out, just spin in the track. I got some crimping ahead of me!
Track does fit together nice and tight though.

Believe it or not, I have some really old Lionel track [dating back to the late 50's, early 60's] and they do the same thing. If you look at the rail, you'll see a small crimp where the smaller area of the pin is on the track side. Mine won't pull out either without excessive force. If it works good, use it! Personally? I wouldn't mess with them unless you need to, but it's your track. Good Luck

 

[monaco75]

Believe it or not, I have some really old Lionel track [dating back to the late 50's, early 60's] and they do the same thing. If you look at the rail, you'll see a small crimp where the smaller area of the pin is on the track side. Mine won't pull out either without excessive force. If it works good, use it! Personally? I wouldn't mess with them unless you need to, but it's your track. Good Luck

I’ll just try and crimp the ends a little tighter with my needle nose pliers while assembling to be extra sure. Want to make sure it has good conductivity all around. That’s one thing I can say about the realtrax. Stuff transfers the power a bit bitter then the tubular I currently have.

My vinegar wash track worked good for a while, but I’ve noticed it has lost a lot of its conductivity lately. I’ve had to add 3 lockons to that little loop on the bottom. Idk if it’s the pins, or track itself.

 

[monaco75]

Phase 1 of the layout revamp is done. The easy part for sure. Maximizing all the space I can. It’s only 15x55” but any extra space helps!

I picked up some carpet underlay as well today, for under the grass mat. Trying to quiet the layout down as much as possible. With no carpet in the sun room, the house resonates with trains running when operating LOL. The plastic track is the worst for this by far.

 

[cantflip]

I’ll just try and crimp the ends a little tighter with my needle nose pliers while assembling to be extra sure. Want to make sure it has good conductivity all around. That’s one thing I can say about the realtrax. Stuff transfers the power a bit bitter then the tubular I currently have.

My vinegar wash track worked good for a while, but I’ve noticed it has lost a lot of its conductivity lately. I’ve had to add 3 lockons to that little loop on the bottom. Idk if it’s the pins, or track itself.

This may help... Nyogel has many specialty lubricants, so be careful about the part numbers or you'll wind up with the wrong product. They have several conductive grease products, we used one of those for airbag contact connections in Ford vehicles back in the 90's.
Overview of the conductive grease range | Newgate Simms tech support
The stuff is expensive, but a little goes a long way.
https://www.tai-lubricants.com/product-page/nyogel-756g
https://www.tai-lubricants.com/product-page/nyogel-758g

 

[78Brougham]

I've got the menards track also. Pins were a little funky to. But in all seems to be good track.
A trick i heard about and seems to work, is you put just a drop of atf in a few spots around the layout helps keep the track clean and with conductivity. Don't over do it just a drop. The train will move it around. Give it a try, at least on one layout, helped keep mine nice and clean.

 

[monaco75]

The same guy I learned the vinegar trick from for the track, also had a product for the pins instead of crimping. It was like a Jb weld for electronics. Just dip the pin in, and re insert it, and it would cure in the track. May have to give some of these a try.

Keeping the track clean is quite the hurtle as well!! Pulling up my track last night, my hands were black. Hard to clean in the back. May give the ATF a try. I need a track cleaning car for sure!

Was a late night last night. Can already tell the underlay is going to make quite a difference. Sucked pulling it all up, but it’s for the better.

 

[stubs300]

This is the only surefire way I know of for preventing dropout with tinplate track!

 

[Samplingman]

You could also run a loop of bare 14 gauge wire under the layout and solder feeder wires from the common rail every 10 sections or so. Have the loop end at a bus bar. Solder a wire from the hot rail and connect to the bus bar. Run the common and the hot wire from the transformer to the bus bar instead of a lock on. This will give you consistent voltage to the whole loop of track. It’s what Lionel would do for their dealer display layouts.

As for the loose pins, my guess is once the section of track are connected the pins will tighten up in the rails.

 

[stubs300]

You could also run a loop of bare 14 gauge wire under the layout and solder feeder wires from the common rail every 10 sections or so.

I've done this too, what a PITA! All of my tinplate is from my 3 older brothers, I never got any and had to use their beat up, rusted, trashed out track. I did everything to try and get a steady current around the loop, could never make it happen. Then I discovered Atlas track, I will never go back to tinplate again!

 

[monaco75]

Well, I tested out the track once it was roughly in place. It tests good, and shows no big power drops. Think we are good! Fingers crossed

Got a lot done today. Cut,built, and painted the trestles, along with the support to lift the bridge. Grass was cleaned, and placed back down. Main line is in place and secured down. Rest of the lines are in their rough place, waiting to be secured down. Was able to squeeze 2 more loops in. It’s a lot of track on the table, but should look better with accessories installed, to break it up a little. I like the trains running more then the scenery any ways. More of a toy train layout.

Need to build a couple more trestles for the new top loop. Was able to also use all my old realtrax as well. I have a couple tubular to realtrax conversion pieces I utilized. Only have 2 042, and 1 O54 curve left over from what was on the table.

A little testing.

 

[monaco75]

We have success for the top loop! My Empire State express is the pickiest engine I have. Low clearance, so it won’t handle rough/uneven track. If this one will run it, all the other will easily.

This engine calls for 054 track. However I’ve discovered she will operate on O42. Doesn’t look the best on it, but she just barely negotiates it. I didn’t want the constraints of space with 054, so went with 042 again for the top loop. Need a place for this one to run still occasionally. Plus she can also run the main line if I want to as well.

All the track is in place and secured down. Now to run power to em. I think I see another ZW coming in the very soon future to power all these lines lol.

 

[monaco75]

 

[monaco75]

Power is back up on the layout. Starting to come together. Got a hobby shop trip planned for tomorrow. Woo!

 

[monaco75]

Picked up some more goodies the other week for the layout. Feel so professional now with 2 ZW’s running the show!

I dropped the Empire State Express off for a complete overhaul. It is getting upgraded from protosound 1 to protosound 3 equipment. Should make it a completely different animal. Will have new sound set, cruise control, and updated smoke output. Pretty excited for it to get completed! It was top of the line for 1996, and will be almost top of the line for current equipment.

The Boss of the layout finally came back from the repair shop today (the challenger). That was a long stay! I called em last week to see if it had been touched. They thought the motor was shot, but after a little more investigation it turned out to be a bad wire. Nice to have her back running the rails.

 

[monaco75]

Another beauty showed up today. Been looking for one for a little while. The planets finally aligned lol. A 2245 Texas special. Runs decent! Like some of the others, it’s been sitting in a collection, dormant for many years according to the seller.

She will get a work out with me! I’ve got some portholes on the way to replace the missing one on the B unit. Thinking of getting another motor and power truck, to make her a dual motored unit like it’s big brothers on the layout.

 

[70NEWYORKER]

Do your neighborhood lights dim when you fire up all those trains????

 

[LocuMob]

Do your neighborhood lights dim when you fire up all those trains????

Not quite the Clark Griswald Christmas display, but close!

 

[Samplingman]

How many F3’s does that make?

 

[monaco75]

Do your neighborhood lights dim when you fire up all those trains????

Not quite the Clark Griswald Christmas display, but close!

Almost! LOL. Our power pulses every once in a while normally. Does seem a little more dramatic when it happens with the trains running at times lol.

How many F3’s does that make?

This is #6. Have my eye on a few more.... they are just so great!

 

[1978 NYB]

Phase 1 of the layout revamp is done. The easy part for sure. Maximizing all the space I can. It’s only 15x55” but any extra space helps!

I picked up some carpet underlay as well today, for under the grass mat. Trying to quiet the layout down as much as possible. With no carpet in the sun room, the house resonates with trains running when operating LOL. The plastic track is the worst for this by far.

View attachment 304936 View attachment 304938 View attachment 304939

Wow!
Pretty nice Zac!!!