# O Gauge Track



## CrazyTrain (Jul 7, 2010)

In the process of setting up a permanent o gauge layout. I started buying the traditional tubular Lionel three rail track and thought that’s what everyone uses. While at my local hobby shop in PA I came across a steel bridge built by Rail King. I couldn’t resist and had to buy it. The guy that was helping me told me that I needed a track section of RealTrax to fit in the section of the bridge. No bid deal. Once I got home and set the track on the table I noticed what an eye sore the Lionel track is. So what that being said is there any advantages to the RealTrax over the Lionel o gauge 3 rail? I'm thinking of doing the entire layout with it.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

CrazyTrain said:


> In the process of setting up a permanent o gauge layout. I started buying the traditional tubular Lionel three rail track and thought that’s what everyone uses. While at my local hobby shop in PA I came across a steel bridge built by Rail King. I couldn’t resist and had to buy it. The guy that was helping me told me that I needed a track section of RealTrax to fit in the section of the bridge. No bid deal. Once I got home and set the track on the table I noticed what an eye sore the Lionel track is. So what that being said is there any advantages to the RealTrax over the Lionel o gauge 3 rail? I'm thinking of doing the entire layout with it.


A copy and paste of the advantages easier then typing.

RealTrax incorporates built-in track bed joiners and long-lasting sprung- metal electrical connectors that make assembling RealTrax literally a snap. Because the roadbed is solid, RealTrax is perfect for temporary carpet based layouts. The built-in roadbed prevents any dirt from staining your carpet and it comes apart so easily that your temporary layout can be disassembled in minutes.

While the RealTrax system employs durable nickel-silver rails that won't rust or oxidize in an outdoor environment, the plastic roadbed and rail ties are constructed of ABS plastic that can be compromised outdoors. Essentially, ABS plastic is not designed to withstand extreme temperature swings and can distort (in high heat) or crack in extreme cold. In addition, the plastic will tend to fade in color since it has not been treated with UV resistant paint. As a result, we do not recommend that RealTrax be used outdoors.

RealTrax Features

# Intricately Detailed ABS Roadbed
# Durable Nickel-Silver Rails
# Quick Snap-Together Connections
# Requires No Track Pins or Rail Joiners 

One disavantage......Price!:laugh:


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Have you heard about Gargraves track?

http://www.gargraves.com/


You know about Ross?

http://www.rossswitches.com/products/products.html












Nice?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

All very nice, but ...

Ka-ching, Ka-ching $!$!$!$


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

Are you setting up a permanant layout, or one that you will be setting up and taking down often? I have RealTrax and it does not hold up to repeated snapping / unsnapping very well


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## CrazyTrain (Jul 7, 2010)

This will be a permanent track layout in a locked room away the kids.  I plan on doing it right and adding to it little by little. The reason why I raised this question about the track is that for a little more money I can have a better look and what seems to be a lot easier to lock and unlock to change the layout as the track grows. 

Ed thanks for all the info on the track. As for the Gargaves track it looks really nice but the KA-Ching KA-Ching from tjcruiser says it all.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

CrazyTrain said:


> This will be a permanent track layout in a locked room away the kids.  I plan on doing it right and adding to it little by little. The reason why I raised this question about the track is that for a little more money I can have a better look and what seems to be a lot easier to lock and unlock to change the layout as the track grows.
> 
> Ed thanks for all the info on the track. As for the Gargaves track it looks really nice but the KA-Ching KA-Ching from tjcruiser says it all.



You pay for what you get. 
You want quality...Gargraves $$$$ but nice.:thumbsup:
I got all tube track ("eyesore!") , but the addition I am planning crossing over to the other side of the basement might be Gargraves as they sell transition pins to hook up to the tube rail.
I never liked the real trax, I think because of the built in roadbed. Plus a friend had a small layout with real trax and sold the track to get gargraves. He didn't like the realtrax.
I had so much tube track I didn't want to spend the bucks when I started my O layout. But the 25' to the other side might get it.

How much room do you have behind that locked door?

Ross is nice to but $$$$$$$$ also.

There is also fastrack much like the real trax.
http://www.legacystation.com/LionelFasTrack.htm

Edit,
Excuse me my friend had the fastrack and got rid of it.


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

If you want cheap, go with used tubular track. I can buy it in good condition for 50 cents or less at swap meets. It has another big advantage: You can cut it to fit easily. I looked at a piece of Fastrack, and I didn't see any to cut it easily. If you need a piece half an inch long, forget Fastrack or the other nice looking snap tracks. I agree with everyone that the newer stuff looks very nice. I have some Fastrack, and it looks great but it is very noisy, even on the carpet. I am probably going to stick with tubular track for any layout I build because I like the historic look it has. It is what I started with 60 years ago. Bruce Baker


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## CrazyTrain (Jul 7, 2010)

Big Ed, the table I have to work with is about 14 feet long by 7 feet wide. I could expand the area by 2 more feet in each direction. I started the process today and grabbed some Real Trax. I think I will be happier in the long run. If the budget ever allows maybe I can switch over to the gargraves track. 

Someone was telling me about an o gauge steam engine that had a fan that would blow the smoke out. The person said that it would be enough smoke to fill a room if you ran the engine long enough. Was this person pulling my chain or is there such an engine?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Lots of O steam locos have smoke units, though usually via electrical "burning" of pellets (old school) or smoke oil (new school). I'm (naively) not aware of fan-based smoke units.


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

The newer diesels have fans in them.
Bruce Baker


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

And yes, they will blow a lot of smoke


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

servoguy said:


> The newer diesels have fans in them.
> Bruce Baker



The newer Diesels have smoke?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

CrazyTrain said:


> Big Ed, the table I have to work with is about 14 feet long by 7 feet wide. I could expand the area by 2 more feet in each direction. I started the process today and grabbed some Real Trax. I think I will be happier in the long run. If the budget ever allows maybe I can switch over to the gargraves track.
> 
> Someone was telling me about an o gauge steam engine that had a fan that would blow the smoke out. The person said that it would be enough smoke to fill a room if you ran the engine long enough. Was this person pulling my chain or is there such an engine?


Some of my old steamers blow enough to make my basement cloudy.


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

Yes, the newer diesels have smoke.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Bruce,

CrazyTrain's question was about _steam_ locos with fans ... any intel there?

TJ


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

TJ, I don't know about the new steam engines. They can't use just a fan as then the smoke wouldn't puff. 

Bruce Baker


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks, Bruce.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

I didn't know that they are making diesels smoke now. 

Blue? Black? 
If it's white there something wrong with their engine.

Your talking O gauge smokers?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

big ed said:


> Blue? Black?
> If it's white there something wrong with their engine.


Sorta like choosing a new Pope, I guess! :laugh:


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

The smoke I saw was gray or white. It's the same smoke fluid as the steamers use. Now that we have O gauge diesels that smoke, I think the new diesel technology has made the smoke obsolete. The new truck and car diesels don't smoke. What the engineers have done is make a hydraulic amplifier which raises the injection pressure above 10,000 psi. This gives such good fuel atomization that the diesels don't smoke anymore. I fly to LA quite often, and it is unusual to small a diesel bus in the LA airport. Years ago, the airport stunk to high heaven from the diesel exhaust. The engine performance has also significantly improved due to the better burning of the fuel. 

Bruce Baker


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

big ed said:


> I didn't know that they are making diesels smoke now.


Wow, diesels have been smoking since at least the '90s! :smilie_auslachen:


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Boston&Maine said:


> Wow, diesels have been smoking since at least the '90s! :smilie_auslachen:


I never knew that they were making diesels smoke too.

A copy and paste from a 2006 catalog,

Smoke
From the wafts of diesel exhaust to the heavy smoke columns erupting from steam locomotive stacks, many Lionel locomotives feature operating smoke generators. Fan-driven smoke units provide a steady flow of smoke, and puffing smoke units create short blasts of smoke as the locomotive moves along the track. For the most realistic smoke effects, synchronized smoke units coordinate the blasts of smoke with the revolution of the drivers and the DynaChuff sounds of the locomotive.

I guess that's because I never really looked at them because of the price.
I knew that they had fan driven smokers for steam engines but not for diesels. The only newer diesel I have is the Nascar engine, I don't think that smokes though.

What year and what engine was the first smoking diesel that Lionel made? Anyone know?


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## greg (Jul 2, 2010)

I would consider Gargraves to be inexpensive at 7 bucks for a 37 inch section. Looks great IMHO. The Ross switches are no more expensive than Fastrack switches.


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

greg,
I am buying used O31 track for 50 cents a section and buying 022 switches for $7.50 complete. IMHO, this is dirt cheap. In 1950, the track was 35 cents a section and the switches were $11. If the track is dirty, I can buy a box for $10 or so. Very cheap. I have an MTH 2-8-8-2 that will run on O31. I like the fact that I can cut the tubular track and can even cut down the 022 switches if necessary. I think the other thing I like about O31 track is nostalgic. It is what I wanted when I was a kid. I had O27 and thought that the O31 was better. 
Bruce Baker


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## greg (Jul 2, 2010)

servoguy> I agree with you. But many newbies seem interested in the stuff with the plastic roadbed. Myself, I used tubular for 30 years. With my small modest layout I was able to just about afford the Fastrack plus I had some from the starter sets. 

On the west coast of Florida, I never find anything for 50 cents. Next time I go to a show, I will check into it.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

So........??????

Does anyone know the year that they first started making smoking diesels????


O gauge smokers.


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## greg (Jul 2, 2010)

big ed said:


> So........??????
> Does anyone know the year that they first started making smoking diesels????
> O gauge smokers.


Just guessing here and do not know about other manufacturers.
I'm going to go with the Lionel 6-18245 Pennsylvania PA-1 with "Real life continuous diesel exhaust unit", 1999 Lionel Preview catalog. 
Certainly the SD-60 and SD-70 units with "New tooling" and "Fan driven diesel smoke unit", 1999 Lionel Volume 1.


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

greg said:


> big ed said:
> 
> 
> > So........??????
> ...


After doing some searching, it appears that MTH started making smoking diesels for the 1995 catalog year...


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Boston&Maine said:


> After doing some searching, it appears that MTH started making smoking diesels for the 1995 catalog year...


I am wondering how that got by me for all these years.:laugh:

I guess because I am more of a steamer fan then diesels?
Not to say I don't like diesels.

I am still wondering why they can't make steam engines shoot out some of the smoke from the sides too. 

That would be cool!:thumbsup:

Unless they do that too all ready!


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## servoguy (Jul 10, 2010)

big ed,
The steamers only shot steam out the sides when the petcocks on the cylinders were opened by the engineer. These petcocks vented water from the cylinders when the cylinders were cold so the water wouldn't hydraulic the cylinders. So if you put steam pipes from the smoker to the sides of the cylinders, you would have to make some way to shut them off. I do agree it would look very cool to see the steam shooting out of the sides of the cylinders. Remember, you have two petcocks on each side of the loco, and if it is an articulated loco, you have two petcocks per cylinder. All this when I am still trying to get the post war smokers working in some of my locos.
Bruce Baker


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## greg (Jul 2, 2010)

big ed said:


> I am wondering how that got by me for all these years.:laugh:
> 
> I guess because I am more of a steamer fan then diesels?
> Not to say I don't like diesels.
> ...



http://www.lionel.com/VisionLine/index.html#/nav/video5


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

greg said:


> http://www.lionel.com/VisionLine/index.html#/nav/video5


Wow! That explains why the Vision Line locomotives are like two grand!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

greg said:


> http://www.lionel.com/VisionLine/index.html#/nav/video5



Thanks Greg!

I was going to say that will add a few hundred, but maybe I should say add a thousand to the price.


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