Nickel Silver and Steel Aloy?

[Santa Fe buff]

What's the difference?

[Conrail Quality]

Nickel silver is made mostly of nickel, steel alloy is made mostly of steel. For model railroad purposes, steel is a better conductor, but it loses conductivity when it oxidizes (reacts with oxygen in the air). Nickel Silver is not quite as good a conductor as steel, but it doesn't lose much conductivity when it oxidizes. So unless you operate your layout inside a vacuum, nickel silver is the superior track material.

Some older track was made out of brass, and that was an AWFUL conductor when it oxidized. There's a reason why no one makes brass track anymore; make sure you remember that if your ever tempted to buy some at a train show or on ebay.

Timothy

[Santa Fe buff]

My Power-Loc track oxidized and it does conduct at all. I guess the things are made of brass. The conducters between the peices.

[WGL]

 I just read this on the NMRA website:
"You might also consider rubbing the rails lightly with, believe it or not, hair clipper oil or another light oil that is plastic compatible. The Wahl brand is the modeler's favorite and it is available at some hobby shops or through barbers supply houses. It inhibits oxidation and improves contact. An article about this was in the June, 1981, RMC"
I wonder if I should do this to my Power-Loc steel alloy track.

[Woody Elmore]

We were using Wahl oil in the Seventies. A little goes a long way. At our club we used to use a toothpick to put a tiny amount on the rails. After a few applications the rail would stay clean. Too much and your engines loose traction then you have to go around and clean the rails and engine wheels.

[Santa Fe buff]

I don't think I'll go that far to save some Power-Loc track, it's been having problems since day one, so I think I just won't use it.

[Jim Banner]

I have been oiling my rails since the sixties.  My H0 layout has a mixture of nickel-silver, brass and steel track and they all work well with the oil.  I used to use Singer Sewing Machine oil until they changed their formula and now use Wahl Hair Clipper oil or one of the "Conductive Oils" such as Labelle 108 or Conductalube. 

I took the use of oil outside when I went to rail power with my garden layout and found it made my aluminum rails works as well as brass rails (the traditional standard outdoors.)  The group I model with uses oil on all our layouts - H0, 0-27 and two indoor G layouts.

As Woody pointed out, a little bit is enough.  Too much and you lose traction.  May I add that if you do not use enough (i.e. do not apply it often enough) then locomotive wheels start looking dull, particularly on steel and aluminum rails.  I add one drop of oil per hundred feet of rail in all scales (but use a bigger drop in G scale than in H0) and let the wheels spread it around.  On our group's H0 which runs many times each day, we add oil maybe as often as once a month.  On my home H0 layout, I add it maybe once a year.  Outdoors, I add new oil at the beginning of each running session when I have to walk the tracks to remove leaves, twigs, and the occasion "land mine" left by my dogs.  At these rates, all our locomotive pickup wheels are mirror shiny.  These shiny wheels seem to have better traction than dull, pitted ones, at least they will pull more cars up my 3-1/2 and 4 % grades than similar locomotives visiting my layout from other layouts where oil is not regularly used.

Does oil work?  You betcha!  Try it - you'll like it. 

[WGL]

 Thanks Woody Elmore.
  Jim Banner, if you've been modelling since the '50s, you must be in my generation.  My parents bought me a Marx all metal set in about 1950 & later a nicer Marx set with automatic couplers & many accessories.  I have finally started a scale model layout.
  Your detailed information is very helpful, & I will print it out.  The train person at the hobby shop I visited advised not to mix steel with nickel-silver.  She didn't say why (aesthetics?).  Your experience shows I can surround my initial oval of steel with an oval of nickel-silver.  I was starting to worry that my steel track would soon oxidize & not conduct.

[Woody Elmore]

Perhaps the steel touching nickel silver causes some kind of chemical reaction. There are people who mix and match brass with NS - but NS is similar to brass. I know that with plumbing, copper and galvanized pipe eventually deteriorate at the joint.

I personally would avoid steel track - it is too prone to rust.

You probably could use steel mixed with NS track if you used an insulated rail joiner. That way the two disimilar metals wouldn't be touching.

[Jim Banner]

WGL, I have to plead guilty to having collected my first old age pension cheque this year.  My first electric train was also Marx, at Christmas 1950.  Die cast 2-4-2 locomotive #999, some lithographed tin plate cars and caboose, and an oval of track.  Before that, it was a Haefner wind up.  But it was with the Marx set that I hit the Big Time with an ELECTRIC train set.

Dissimilar metals that are touching and covered with water can suffer from galvanic corrosion.  Take away the touching (actually, the electrical connection) between the metals or take away the water - no more galvanic corrosion.  Unless your train room is so humid that water condenses on your tracks, I don't think galvanic corrosion will be a problem for you.  The occasional wetting, such as when bonding ballast, usually does not cause a problem.  This is at least in part because steel rail in the model world is typically electroplated with zinc to prevent rusting.  The zinc can eventually wear off the tops of the rails or it can be removed by sanding, filing or scraping but the tops of the rails is where we apply the oil, so it doesn't really matter if the tops are bare steel.  With Bachmann track, the difference in base colour - grey for nickel silver, black for steel rails - can bother some people but all it takes is a bit of paint to match it all up.

One thing that really rusts steel track is mouse urine.  But then again it corrodes nickel silver and brass rail too.  Some years ago I ended up with a nest of mice in my train room.  It seems their favourite night time activity was walking the rails and marking their trails, just like a bunch of little dogs.  I was thinking of connecting the rails to an electric fencer during non-operating hours, but in the end, a few traps and some peanut butter were cheaper.   

[Jhanecker2]

How much electrical potential would there be between Iron and Nickel ? They are seperated  only by Cobalt  on the Mendeleev Chart . I would figure their electron potential would be relatively minor.  By the way what are the rail joiners made of ?  Have to admit I have a nice collection Wahl & other clipper oils .   I have gone through quite a few beard Trimmers in the last decades either lost , burned out or dropped once too often . And Yes  I did spell Mendeleev Wrong while looking for it on the web.

[WGL]

  I just ordered Power-Loc nickel silver track to surround my steel layout.  I will connect them with two steel switches.  I will use 22" curves on the outside & mainly run my passenger train on it with its 72' cars, although they run on 18" curves now.  My freight will run mostly on the 18" curves.  I will have 8 smooth-side GN passenger cars (inadvertently, 2 diners; the Vista Dome was out-of-stock).  In a '40s film, someone mentioned club car, but I haven't seen any such HO model.
  I can't find our dog electric clippers since we moved last year (getting a finished basement).  I think can find Wahl clipper oil locally.
  Jim Banner, my first locomotive was a 2-4-2 die-cast steam number 999, & it still runs!
  We have a dehumidifier in our basement, where our library has become also a train room.  Rodents on the tracks is too much realism!

[Santa Fe buff]

http://www.brasscarsides.com/pdf%20tech%20sheets/GNHO-WS-WL.pdf Well I won't lie, this isn't a link to a car you want, but I'm sure the information may come handy.

[Jhanecker2]

Santa Fe Buff : I believe the connectors between the segments of Power Lock tracks appear to be Copper. If so they can be cleaned with Copper Cleaner . After that I would Apply a Conductive Grease over the Copper. Don't get it on to the rails . Grease is applied on Battery Terminals to keep them from Corroding . What color was the copper ?

[Santa Fe buff]

Yeah, I think they are. I was wondering, I was sure it was copper, but mine appeared a bit closer to brass. But I checked, they are made with copper. But don't worry, I'm not interested in saving some Power-Loc track that has problems with the rails and everything else, I've already have a new system of E-Z track that is more then okay to work with my Atlas code 100 I plan to use. Thanks though, that will come in handy to anyone that is a model railroader.