Steel rail

[pete12345]

Would I be considered mad for building a layout with it these days? I know nickel-silver is considered superior but I just don't like the yellow-ish tinge to the rail. We've been exposed to it for long enough that everyone's used to it but it's not prototypical at all and just shouts 'model' to me. Steel just looks so much better as that's what the real thing looks like.

But can steel be made to work reliably? The conductivity is poorer, but if you wire properly there will be enough electrical feeds to the track for this not to matter. As for cleaning, NS always seems to need cleaning just as much and it's more the wheels spreading dirt around I think. I plan to run a cleaning wagon around the main lines anyway so it would just be sidings that would need a once-over.

Thoughts?

[Bufferstop]

Mostly what people from the UK call steel rail is "Sheradised or Galvanised" steel, it has a matt silvery grey appearance, apart from where the coating has scratched away and rust has set in. Yes real steel looks like steel but 1/76th scale wheels just don't have the weight to remove the rust coating from the running surface, Once the sides of nickel silver rail have been painted to look like rust the narrow strip of exposed "yellow" will be much less noticeable.

[Mountain]

Of corse steel rail can be made to work reliably but it does need to be kept clean. There is nothing wrong with steel rail. In the past I have used it for years with few issues. The main issue I did have was when I had my layout in a slightly damp garage as in the winter months I would have a thin layer of surface rust to rub off the tops of the rails before I could run my trains. The point contacts sometimes needed cleaning which was not easy (The same way point contacts of old nickel silver rails will need the same if used in a damp enviroment). It was more that nickel silver rail was easier. I am not sure though as I find nickel silver also needs quite a fair amount of cleaning. However, I didn't need to remove a thin rust layer as well.

[Hymirl]

A go around with a track rubber now and then and no bother. If you're putting multiple feeds in I doubt you'll get many issues otherthan higher maintenance.

People coped a long time with steel!

[Richard Lee]

Some of the poshest track around is available with steel rail. C&L give that as an option. Never used it myself, but some people seem to be extremely happy with it, and some people find it doesn't work out for them.

DCC Concepts do flexi-track that uses stainless steel rails. Again, no experience, but I would be tempted to research how people have managed soldering wires to it if I considered it as an option.

[b308]

Like may of the other older members I used it as a kid (Super 4!) and couldn't wait until I had some money to buy nickel silver. Yes it can be made to work but it isn't really worth the hassle. If you let it become like the "real thing" (i.e. covered in rust!) nothing would work on it. Considering how rare it is to get these days I suspect you are looking at using secondhand track, that's another subject in itself but the best advice is to pay the extra and use new, you'll have less issues. Just use new NS and paint the sides!

[Mountain]

Nickel silver left outdoors turns a lovely rusty brown colour. It takes a few months to do this or a few years if living in a milder climate. Thee brown looks just like rust. Very realistic.

[Bigmet]

...can steel (rail) be made to work reliably?

... As for cleaning, NS always seems to need cleaning just as much and it's more the wheels spreading dirt around I think. I plan to run a cleaning wagon around the main lines anyway so it would just be sidings that would need a once-over.

In a dry location steel rail can work well, but the wheels matter equally, and that touches on the rail cleaning aspect.

Ideally, you will use steel tyres on everything running on a steel rail layout. That is as close to self cleaning as you will get. There's little wear to create fine metal oxides. I have a good number of the old 1970s MGW wheelsets with mild steel tyres in kitbuilds. These are realistically rusty except where the rail contact occurs on the tyres creating a polished band. They don't slowly collect dirt, unlike the other metal wheels on what is an all nickel silver rail layout. (And I simply do not allow crud generating plastic wheels and traction tyres on my layout at all, filthy things.)

Bonus: steel tyre on steel rail has way better adhesion than nickel silver. So even if it is impractical to obtain steel tyred wheelsets for unpowered use, it would be worth the trouble of getting steel tyred for driven wheelsets.

[Mountain]

It would be good to actually compare steel to nickel silver. For years in my childhood I used steel track. I ran my trains regularly averaging around once or twice a week depending on what I was doing. Remembering back to those days, I rarely remember the need to clean the track. Build up of dirt on plastic and metal wheels rarely needed to be dealt with.
The difficulty in comparison between the two was due to a house move from a village at the bottom of a hill to live on top, where I suddenly had regular mists to deal with. Now rust became an issue due to the sea mists, hence the change to use nickel silver track. Since the change track cleaning and wheel cleaning are often needed. This could be due to the different climate between the sheltered village below and living here, or it could be the difference between steel and nickel silver. It could also be that these days I don't run trains so frequently. It is difficult to compare.
When I initially changed to nickel silver I noticed a difference but was the difference made because the track was new as new steel track can and does also make a difference compared to old steel track.
Of corse, in a damp enviroment nickel silver is always going to be superior. It is the thought that when younger that I only cleaned my track every other year and I ran my trains far more often then I later did... And even though some wheels were rather dirty (Wagons and coaches especially as I never used to clean them, and there was no real difference between the dirt on steel (Hornby silver seal steel wheels in those days) and plastic wheels. I only cleaned loco wheels or the track when the locos stopped working, which was rare. Yet with nickel silver track plastic tends to collect the dirt and metal wheels don't collect dirt so quickly.
Just a few thoughts...

Ooh. I can add another thought which may well make a difference. I only once had a layout when I lived below as most of the time running was on the bedroom floor. After moving I have gone from layout to layout. It could be that the track layed in position collects the dirt, while when I was younger it was all put away after use.

I will say something here. As new steel track is hard to come by these days, most modellers are trying to compare very old steel track to rather new nickel silver track. Old pointwork will need a good clean to compare as if one tries it without a thourough clean and adjust how can one actually have a fair comparisson? I say this as in many cases it is not a fair comparisson. Just a thought.

[b308]

Trouble with steel rail is it usually has a coating which protects it from rust. That coating can be wiped off by over zealous cleaning or use of incorrect cleaning materials, then you end up with rail that as close to the real thing as you can get and is useless. That's the advantage of N-S as there's no protective surface to destroy...

You are right about location, when i was a kid mine was in a draughty shed and needed cleaning every time I used it, hence I couldn't wait to move over to nickel silver...