What type of track to use? Aluminum, Brass, Stainless Steel, Which?

Overview and comments

People get all wrapped around the axle on this one. Like everything, if you take a calm and logical approach, the best decision for YOU will be relatively easy.

The first thing that will help you decide is whether you need powered rail or not.

As an aside, track vs. battery power is the subject of endless debate. I did a lot of reading and research, and determined that I would be using track power (actually DCC).

In my case, it was an easy decision. From the type of operation and features I wanted, battery power was not a good option at all. It was more expensive, more maintenance, limited the locos I could use, limited the features I could use like lights, smoke and even sound systems.

Also you will hear that track power is too much trouble or too much maintenance, etc.

The hobby is littered with people who switched to battery from track power, because they could not make it work, but I maintain the vast majority made BAD decisions on their track in the first place, or did poor assembly.

In any case, if you pick the wrong type of track and joiners, you WILL have issues. Also, remember that different environments have different affects on metals that oxidize.

10 years later, my powered track is low maintenance, works great, and I have no regrets that I should have done it differently, so it can be done.

Appearance

Another decision that will help your selection is how the track looks. the most obvious will be:

• • The color of the metal rails (although most people do not care, or paint their rail, nothing looks like rusted iron)
  • The rail height (Code number) (this is the most apparent)
  • The "ties": spacing, texture, color, size. (this, once track is ballasted, is really a minor item in most cases)

More on Tie Spacing

The ties can be different sizes and spacing. In the US, narrow gauge track represents a "larger" scale in 45mm track, so the ties should be somewhat larger and spaced further apart. Also, it seems that European railroads spaced their ties further apart.

From the "father" of G scale, LGB, the track had "Euro" spacing, and that is the first track copied by other manufacturers, notably Aristo Craft and USA Trains. (In fact Aristo was sued by LGB and almost went out of business).

Aristo Craft later made a "US spacing" of ties. You can see a comparison in the picture below.

Once the track is ballasted, the difference in tie size and spacing is much less noticeable, and some people mix the types on their layouts. I use all the US spaced Aristo stainless steel track myself.

Rail Height

Another choice is the height of the rail, or the "code". The original standard is code 332, i.e. the rail is 0.332" tall. This is way over the size of the prototype. "Tall" rail bothers some people, some not. You can get code 250 rail which looks a lot better, but consider that since most of us are outdoors, the taller rail does afford more resistance to derailing from junk on the track, ballast not settled, animals, misplaced feet. Also there are some really old wheels that supposedly have flanges too deep for code 250, but my experience is that the more recent products do not have an issue with code 250. In my particular case, I have not small children, dogs, or wild animals stepping on the track so code 250 would have been nicer, but it was not available when I started. It's still harder to find.

Tie Material / appearance

Another choice is the materials your track is made from. The first I will address is the ties. For most people, plastic is the best choice. You can buy track with wood ties, but it takes more maintenance, and they can rot, the spikes can also rust or come loose.

Another thing to be aware of is how the ties will last in the sunlight, mostly the effects of UV radiation. Most brands are good, but some had issues, for example, there were several batches of Aristo ties that just decomposed in a few years. While in business, Aristo had a lifetime warranty on the ties, but that's no good now they are out of business.

What happened is that the UV stabilizer was left out of the plastic mix, and since this stuff is colorless, you cannot tell from visible inspection if it is there or not. Only time in the sun will tell.

Since "sun rot" is so prevalent and not predictable I personally give the entire layout a spritz of "Armorall" every 6 months, it has UV protectant, and also keeps the plastic more flexible. I've been doing this for 10 years and have not lost one tie from decomposition.

Spray it on the track with a 1 gallon garden sprayer, and leave on at least overnight. Don't wash it off. BUT!! degrease the rails before using, especially if you have steep grades and/or traction tires. See the section on track cleaning. LINK HERE

Recently some ties have been made from composite wood (sawdust and glue), and the reports after a number of years is that the spikes can loosen.

Rail material

OK, the main controversy is usually selecting the metal of your rails.

Basically, the more money you spend, the better the material is at withstanding the elements. Cheap brass rail has cracked in locations with extreme temperature swings, usually in freezing weather. Aluminum can corrode and oxidize away. Nickel Silver, while common in the smaller scales, is about impossible to get and is not oxide-free. Actual steel is impractical in virtually all cases, Stainless steel  is impervious to about everything, and the really expensive nickel plated brass is beautiful and most expensive, but cannot take abrasive cleaners.

Aluminum Rail:

My conclusion is that aluminum rail is great for battery powered layouts, where you never (electrically) clean the track, or where cost is a major factor, or you are in a really dry environment where corrosion is minimal. It is not good where you have large critters visiting your railroad and standing on the track, like deer. There are people who have used it successfully for powered track, but they have to fight oxidation with sandpaper, and the joints between rails and connecting power are points of oxidation and corrosion and poor conductivity.

Brass Rail:

My conclusion is that brass is a good choice for many people, having a good balance of cost and performance, and works well with track powered systems. There are many ways to keep the track electrically clean, and there are ways to remove the oxidation that is not so much work. The amount of oxidation varies wildly according to environment. Again, check the page on track cleaning for many ways to clean track: LINK HERE.

Nickel Silver Rail:

My conclusion is that Nickel Silver is not "better enough" to justify the cost over brass if what you want is less cleaning of rails or better conductivity. It just has not proven itself superior outdoors to brass.

If the more prototypical color of weathered rail plus the slightly lower maintenance is worth it, than NS might be for you.

Steel Rail:

(I'm only including this because newcomers always ask about it.)

Note: The Bachmann hollow steel rail can rust through in one season, don't do it!

I can't really see a reason to use steel rail outdoors. Maybe if you used long sections of solid rail in flex track, used welded steel electrical jumpers, dumped oil on the rails on a regular basis, and cleaned it every day it would be ok outside. There is a group of live steamers with a mostly indoor track that run steel strap rail, but they coat it with a rust-preventative oil-grease.

Stainless Steel Rail:

More costly than brass, shiny rail. Lack of many different codes (sizes). Excellent in wet, corrosive, dirty environments. No maintenance to speak of, very tough and durable.

My personal pick, but my my highest (personal) priority is to have fun, and have reliable operation. No problem with corrosion, and I don't mind the shiny rail. Very good choice for track power if you use slightly more feeders, overkill for battery power.

Nickel-Plated Brass Rail:

This is brass rail with a thin plating. Very expensive. No longer sold by LGB, still common in Europe. Excellent in wet, dirty environments. No maintenance to speak of, if you do NOT use abrasive track cleaners.

BE VERY CAREFUL, ABRASIVE CLEANING WILL REMOVE THE PLATING

Nice stuff, but the plating means you cannot use standard abrasive track cleaners. Clean with a Swiffer or other liquid cleaner.

Manufacturers by material and code (size)

General comments on some track and switch manufacturers:

AML

Newcomer to the track race, very good prices on flex track, no sectional. Accucraft/AMS/AML has their own factory, and their own distribution, so this allows lower price. Many people happy with this product.

Aristo-Craft Track in General:

Was made in China. The supplied rail joiners have screws on only one side to affix to the rail. The screws are very small 2mm diameter hex head cap screws. The joiners themselves do not conform closely to the rail (especially the stainless ones) and since the screws are on only one side, do not do a perfect job of aligning the rails. If you use their joiners (and I do not recommend them for track power), you would do well to change the joiners to clamps. Aristo-Craft made very inexpensive clamps that were ok.

The reason I say only "ok" is that since the joiner usually does not fit snugly, often power is transmitted from the rail to the screw head which then contacts the joiner, then through the joiner to the other screw head and back to the rail. The contact area under the head is small and it makes poor contact, and the screws loosen. To make matters worse, one of the holes in the joiner is a horizontal slot, which makes even less contact. Another small irritation is that a small percentage of the rail sections have the screw holes drilled too far up or down in the rail web, which makes it almost impossible to use a joiner, or you enlarge the screw hole in the joiner so much that electrical contact goes out the window. In these cases, get a rail clamp and save yourself some grief. Virtually no one has been successful drilling and tapping new holes in the stainless rails, and it's touch in the brass, even though you can buy a drill and tap kit from Aristo.

The ties are black, and the "tabs" that hold the rails to the ties are small, fragile, and have a fair amount of slop. It is easy to pull a tie off the rail with normal handling. The tie material is UV protected (there was a batch long ago that was not), but it does weather faster than most other brands, though about on par with USA Trains track. The ties are very uniform, so not a real prototype appearance.

The switches likewise have some problems. The number 6 switch suffers from electrical reliability and sloppy flanges and rail alignment and a too deep flangeway at the frog. See the Train-Li insert for the frog. The microswitch often jams, and causes short circuits. See the specific sections on Aristo-Crafttrack.

The wide radius switch (10' diameter) needs about 1/2 hour of tweaks to make it reliable, although in 2009, Aristo-Craft finally improved the frog to eliminate half of the problems, see the specific sections on Aristo-Craft track for tips.

Also, as of July 2007, there is no UV stabilizer in the throwbar and either switch, and many people have them disintegrate. You can get replacements from Aristo. Be sure to request the brass bushings also, since they typically seize in the throwbar.

Aristo-Craft has a wide offering of sizes, from tight to very broad curves, 3 different turnouts, 3 different crossings, just a great selection.

(The following pricing is as of July 2007, after the 100% price increase)

Straights come in 12", 24", 36", 54", 60", the 12" straights retail for $10.33 each (from a box of 12), and 60" are $52 or $10.40 a foot (from a box of 12).

Curves come in (diameters by the foot) 5,6.5,8,9,10,11.5,12.5,14,15,16.5,20 a great selection. A 10' diameter circle would cost 12 * $25.33 or $304

The Wide Radius (10' curve) switch is $140, and the #6 is $364 !!!, there is also a #6 Wye at $250 (this does not make sense!)

Flex track is available, the best price is if you buy a bundle of rails (24 x 8') for $820 (96 lineal feet of track) and 2 packs of 48 one foot tie strips (96 lineal feet) for $122, so 96 feet costs $942 or $9.81 a foot. I did not check if joiners are included, but getting split jaws would add about $2 per every rail, so 24 rails = 48 dollars, or 50 cents per foot, so if you want to compare with H&R's offering, the flex track is about $10.31 a foot all told.

Please note that Aristo-Craft track is often discounted, so if you are comparing prices, get the "street" price from your favorite supplier.

Big note: the sizes advertised are NOT the actual lengths, the 5' track is one inch shorter, and likewise all straight sections are not as advertised. Also, the curve diameters are not as advertised. I will look for the "real" dimensions, but the track is made to metric sizes. Many people have designed layouts based on the advertised dimensions. Aristo-Craft is unique in this area, all other manufacturers give real dimensions.

In the 1996 catalog the above were shown as:

ART 11000 1 FT. 30CM
ART 11060 2 FT. 60CM
ART 11070 3 FT. 90CM
ART 11090 5 FT. 150CM

Obviously it could not have been both 1 foot and 30 centimeters so the dealer could have explained that it was 300 mm which would be close to 1 foot.

Also in 1996 more curves were added and listed as MED 5'; LG 8'; X-WIDE 10' and XX-WIDE 20'

By 1998 the metric numbers were dropped and eventually the MED; X-WIDE; and XX-WIDE were dropped.

Aristo-Craft stainless track:

Aristo-Craft stainless track is 304 or 18-8 ( from 18% Chromium, 8% Nickel). Type 304 (18-8) is austenitic steel, possessing a minimum of 18% chromium and 8% nickel, combined with a maximum of 0.08% carbon. It is nonmagnetic steel, which cannot be hardened by heat treatment, but instead must be cold worked to obtain higher tensile strengths.  The 18% minimum chromium content provides corrosion and oxidation resistance. The alloy's metallurgical characteristics are established primarily by the nickel content (8% mm.), which also extends resistance to corrosion caused by reducing chemicals. Carbon, a necessity of mixed benefit, is held at a level (0.08% max.) that is satisfactory for most service applications. This alloy resists most oxidizing acids and can withstand all ordinary rusting.

Overall, it is of the poorest quality of all the competition, but the price used to be half of the competition, so I bought it.

Often, Aristo-Craft seems to "forget" the UV stabilizer in the plastic ties, and they rot away. The good news is that you have a lifetime guarantee on the ties. The BAD news is that the guarantee is only on the ties, so you get replacement ties and have to take all the track apart, clean it and reassemble it.

AristoCraft brass track:

In 2008 there were a lot of changes. After trumpeting how high the copper content of their brass rail is, and how other manufacturers have less copper, Aristo-Craft brought out a low cost brass line with less copper in it. Hmmm.

Again, it suffered from spotty quality control, and batches of ties with no UV stabilization.

Aristo-Craft aluminum track:

Took a while, announced in 2008, need release date.

Pretty popular for a while.

Bachmann steel track:

Supplied with the inexpensive starter sets, both battery and track powered, Bachmann track was for years only hollow steel rail (in the shape of a square C). It rusts very quickly outside. It has poor conductivity. It damages easily. It only comes in very tight curves. I don't recommend it for anything.

Bachmann brass track

In late 2011, Bachmann announced solid brass 332 rail that has the same rail joiners as USAT and Aristo-Craft. Not surprising since Kader owns Bachmann, and Kader owns the companies that produce track for Aristo-Craft and USAT. Also not surprising is that the price is way lower than the others.

LGB / Marklin

Long the "gold standard" in quality, expensive, but will probably outlast the owner. Definitely one of the highest quality in terms of the materials. Switches can be toy-like and are meant to replace curved pieces of track. The 3 way switch is an example of "Why"?

All you can get is code 332 brass, but they made aluminum at one time and also nickel plated. These are very rare to find, so not listed in the chart above. There was a bad batch of the plated track, and that caused the withdrawal by LGB.

Llagas creek

Long time favorite, recently changed hands in 2015, the new management seems very interested continuing and extending the product line.

Available in code 215 and 250, really good looking and more realistic rail height.

The site lists Aluminum, Brass, Nickel silver in both sizes, but some unavailable. Check with them

Micro Engineering

Sold through Walthers (ugh!) Nice stuff.

Peco

Basically code 250 with narrow gauge tie spacing made for 16mm scale, 45mm gauge.

Piko 

Almost as good as LGB, similar quality and look

Quick note: the Piko nomenclature of R1, R3, etc, is NOT the same as LGB R1, R3, etc. BE CAREFUL when comparing.

SplitJaw Stainless track (previously sold by H&R):

The H&R stuff is wonderful quality, the tie plates look a little European. The SS grade is 430 > 434.Grade 430 is a ferritic, straight chromium, non-hardenable grade, combining good corrosion resistance and formability characteristics with useful mechanical properties. Its ability to resist nitric acid attack permits its use in specific chemical applications but automotive trim and appliance components represents its largest fields of application.

code 332 Stainless Steel track, with either US or European sleepers

It has slightly lower corrosion resistance than 304, and stiffer / less ductile. This alloy is typically cheaper than grade 304.

Grade 430F is the free-machining version of this grade, available in bar form for use in automatic screw machines. Grade 434 is the molybdenum bearing version of Grade 430 and has the same useful combination of properties. Its molybdenum addition improves corrosion resistance.

The joiners are a slip fit and have great conductivity, there is a patented wedge on the bottom that makes great electrical contact. The plastic of the ties is on par with LGB for durability, they are brown. They have only one switch though, an 8' diameter, that is a severe limitation.

Originally, it was made by TdV, Trefileries des Vosges, Le Blanc Murger. TdV started manufacturing this stainless steel track in 1990 as a special product line to supply the needs of a new large French amusement park with a model railroad.
Revalda in Switzerland took over the marketing and sales of that track system in 1991 and on January 1, 2000, Revalda started their own manufacturing of the track system. TdV at that time reverted back to their core product line.
http://www.revalda.ch/sortiment.aspx

(The following prices are from the web site, July 2007)

They have the following curved track (diameter in feet) 4,5,8,9,10,11.5,12.5,14,15,16.5 - A 10 foot diameter circle would cost 16 times $18.76 (a section) or $300.16.

They have 12", 24" straight, and flex track.

One wild thing: you can have either their joiners or Split Jaw clamps when you order flex, no price difference!

The 8' diameter switch is $158

The stuff is sold only from H&R, and at list as far as I can tell.

12" straight $9.20

24" straight $16.97 ($8.49 a foot)

Flex comes in various lengths, best price is 120"/10' package, $74.48 ( $7.45 a foot)

Sunset Valley RR track:

Note: it's hard to tell what they have, in January 2023, they only listed aluminum rail one the main page but the site shows the ordering nomenclature and pictures of Stainless Rail. Another page says they have 4 kinds of code 250: aluminum, brass, stainless steel, nickel silver.

A newcomer to SS code 250 rail, they started with flex track. The ties are brown with a web (hidden by ballast) down the center. Nice detail on the spikes and tie plates. This is the same tie strip used for their other track, so expect no problems.

code 250 weathered brass, aluminum, weathered nickel silver, stainless steel, switches (brass and NS), rail clamps

Train-LI

They carry the "ProLine" line of track: brass and nickel-plated brass imported from Germany or Belgium distributed by the great people at Train-Li USA.

Again the R1, R3, etc. scheme is NOT the same as LGB

USA Trains track & switches

The USAT brass rail looks similar to Aristo, but the ties are darker black, and the brass alloy seems to be a little different. Not super popular, maybe due to the lack of a more complete line. My experience with 2 local friends has been that the ties last better in the sunlight. Their #6 switch looks nice, an all-brass cast frog, the electrics to switch power are crap, and you need to look for other ways to power the frog.

Rail clamps / joiners:

How you connect your rails depends a lot on whether you run track power or not.

If you are totally battery and will NEVER try track power, do anything that works. Be careful about expansion and contraction.

If you need track power, you need a good way to ensure power flows and you are not chasing loose rail joiners. 

See the section on "Track Power / Wiring" for more details, but bottom line I recommend soldered jumpers or rail clamps for any track used for track power.