??? I am starting a garden railroad and I wanted Aristo Craft track but which is better stainless steel or brass rails
I would think you would want stainless.
This is a subject that brings ALOT of different views. For current flow you can't beat the conductivity of brass. Yes you will have to do regular track cleaning, but you will have no problem with carrying current.
Another question is, will you be running track power, battery, or live steam. If battery or live steam, it doesn't matter. You will also find standard guage and narrow guage track. The distance between the rails is the same, but the ties are different size to most resemble the RR you are modeling. I know lots of folks would never think of using brass with track power. Two of my very close friends run ONLY brass. One has close to 1500 feet of track, the other over 800 ft. Both run track power, and by pulling a cleaning car on a regular basis, they have great results. In fact open house weekends are underway, so I'll be visiting some of those brass track layouts this weekend!
Select the Command Control system you will use first; then select the track.
Quote from: Paul W. on June 08, 2007, 11:07:30 PM
... For current flow you can't beat the conductivity of brass. Yes you will have to do regular track cleaning, but you will have no problem with carrying current. ...
Conductivity of brass... the key is doing regular track cleaning.
Some facts,
If you are going to control your locomotive by track power then the better selection is the Aristo-Craft stainless steel track over the brass. When brass oxodizes, corrosion occurs and
electrical conductivity is lost. As stainless steel oxidizes,
electrial conductivity is not lost. Also, oxidization of stainless steel creates a surface film resistant to corrosion.
Cost -- stainless steel track cost more than brass
What your saying is that brass is worse outside than stainless? And that track power is including DCC right?
Quote from: wheeler on June 09, 2007, 12:14:10 AM
What your saying is that brass is worse outside than stainless? And that track power is including DCC right?
Most everyone selected brass over aluminum rail for outside use until Aristo-Craft made #1 Gauge, code 332, Grade #304 stainless steel track at an affordable price a few years ago. Stainless steel is better than brass for use outside.
I do include DCC in track power category. Although if you want wireless DCC with battery on board power look at CVP's AirWire 900.
Quote from: Paul W. on June 08, 2007, 11:07:30 PM
For current flow you can't beat the conductivity of brass.
Actually, you can. Aluminum is more than twice as conductive as brass.
A tiny trace of oil on the surface of aluminum or brass rail almost completely eliminates the need to clean track. I use 1 drop of oil on each rail every hundred feet along my aluminum track and have great success running DCC. At this application rate, the oil film is too thin to cause wheel slip, but thick enough to suppress arcing and prevent oxidation of the rails. When headlights or passenger car lights start to flicker, it is time to reoil. I usually use Labelle 108 because I have a few cars with plastic wheels, but other light, non-oxidizing oils will also work.
My Railroad has both. The percentage of brass gets less each year. Why? Because I love stainless. All new track is stainless and each time I work on a section the brass gets replaces with stainless.
Some considerations. If you want very tight curves (R1 or even R2) go with Brass. The locomotive wheels push hard against the rails on tight curves and some have reported excess wheel wear on the locomotives wheels using these very tight curves.
If you walk on your track use stainless. Over the years I have has some problems with verticle curves on Brass caused by heavy traffic over the track. Never a problem in this regard with Stainless.
Hope that helps.
Stan
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Well, thanks guys I talked to my father about it and he chose stainless, but he's a mechanic and not into railroading. I measured it out last night and Its going to be around 960 feet of track so I think it will be good for the first out door large scale railroad