E-Z Track

[R Dogg]

I would like to known if you can use E-Z Track Gray with the E-Z Track Black together

[Frisco]

Yes. If you plan to get any more get the gray roadbed though as it will not rust and stays clean longer.

[Running Bear]

Yes. The black is cheaper but requires more maintenance as it gets older. It can also rust. The gray costs a bit more but doesn't rust and requires far less maintenance.

[Rangerover]

Most MRR's these days use nickle silver exclusively (gray roadbed). As far as the steel (black roadbed) well, I have stored track from my original layout of 35 years ago in basements, garages, out buildings. It consisted of steel track, brass and nickle silver. Now the brass and nickle silver were corroded, but cleaned up nicely. The steel track did not rust except for a tiny bit here and there on the ends and had some  zinc oxide dust that came off with the swipe of the finger. Those that say steel track rust's, well all I can say is I tried rusting a few pieces for use on my layout for an abandoned small freight yard. To make a long story short after 6 months of being in the rain and weather outdoors, LOL, it never rusted. I was trying to make it natural looking. It might rust if stored in a wet basement, but like I said I stored it for 30 years including a damp unheated garage, and in fact it was stored in one of those metal steel outbuildings for 5 years, nothing happened and hardly any rust worth mentioning!

[Running Bear]

Those that say steel track rust's, well all I can say is I tried rusting a few pieces for use on my layout for an abandoned small freight yard. To make a long story short after 6 months of being in the rain and weather outdoors, LOL, it never rusted.

The steel track didn't rust because it has a coating of zinc on it. Over time this coating wears off and the fun really begins.

[Santa Fe buff]

Taking what KCS 1 said in mind,
Would that say that G Gauge track has tons of zinc on it?

On a separate notice:
Although I use Steel Alloy, I've had it for about 1 year. Obviously I haven't had any oxidation, only problems with clean rails and what not. While my Life-Like Power Loc track (Likely Steel Alloy), oxidation with powered you can get off with your hands (like described by Rangerover), after 1 year of use.

Go figure!

Josh

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Go with the gray roadbed track. The gray roadbed looks better. 

[Jhanecker2]

The Gray Road Bed also has way more types of track, so you are going to use it anyway .

[grumpy]

I have a mixture of gray and black on my layout. To date I have not found any difference in the amount of cleaning that one requires over the other. The mixture looks good . Have you ever seen a railroad that looks the same from beginning to end.
Don

[WGL]

  My initial train set contained steel track, so I'm using it while I've added nickle silver as I enlarged my layout.

  Others, such as Jim Banner, have recommended a drop of Wahl clipper oil on each rail occasionally (annually?), distributed by the wheels of a car, to retard oxidation & improve contact of wheels to track.

[ebtbob]

Good Morning All,

       Here is a thought/question.......why do most manufacturers use nickle silver rail in their sets as opposed to steel rail?  I suspect that the former is just better rail.

Bob

[Jhanecker2]

Nickel Silver is just electrically better, less non-conductive corrosion . I am not sure if it is mechanically better or any easier to manufacture. It is however more expensive .  Prototypes  use and have used Steel rail since it came on the market two centuries ago.   They will still be using it for a long time to come .  I sincerely doubt that mag-lev would ever be economically viable for freight or even necessary .

[Paul M.]

I'm using both the black and the gray E-Z track for my layout, which is a 5x9. The nickel silver rail does stay cleaner longer, because its oxidation conducts electricity, while the steel alloy track's oxidation does not. I have a short tunnel for the layout that I'm building, not longer than 5 feet, and it only has nickel silver track because of this. The differences in roadbed colors does stand out in a temporary layout, but you'll get used to that, and besides, if you have a permanent layout with ballast, weathered, ballasted E-Z track looks identical, no matter what type you're using.

-Paul