Nickel-silver or steel?

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

When I restarted in this hobby 5 years ago I had sections of 40 year old Hornby track packed away in a box. It was discoloured but not rusty. I used some of it on the new layout but the finicky problems of getting the fish plates to match properly simply pushed me to buy modern NS. As the expense wasn't all that high I wasn't worried.

As for adhesion etc. I've not experienced any problems that a little extra weight in the loco couldn't solve.

[RSR Engineer]

Interesting feedback, gentlemen, thank you. The matter has gone a stage further. I have laid the first stretch of track on the new layout, the northern sidings tailshunt, in Peco Streamline treated steel. This is second-hand stuff and filthy dirty - I had to use a rag soaked in WD-40 to get the muck off. I reckoned that if the steel stuff was aggro, it wouldn't matter because this is a track to accommodate the rear end of trains backing of the storage sidings. But I tested it under power anyway.

Once I'd cleaned the loco's wheels as well (no traction tyres) she ran quite well but was sensitive to bits of the track where I hadn't scrubbed hard enough. There was a lot of arcing, however, between wheel tread and rail top, which may or may not be down to the steel or any residual muck on the rails. I'm going to start a new thread on this, coz I'd be interested to hear members' views and solutions.

The start of tracklaying and the running test with the 0-8-0T are documented on flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 913122057/

Cheers,
Artur

[mijj1]

That one ran fine and you used a camera steady/stand as well .
Jim.

[RSR Engineer]

That one ran fine and you used a camera steady/stand as well .
Jim.

Yes, Jim, she ran OK for that test but with that arcing I wonder how long she'd be able to keep it up. That was precisely the problem I had. I've opened a separate thread on this topic under "Other electrical".

Cheers,
Artur

[RSR Engineer]

I have just been informed by Peco that their "treated" steel was galvanised, i.e. zinc-plated, as I suspected but now we have it from the horse's mouth.
Cheers,
Artur