Using Track Outdoors

Hello all, in this post I am going to express my opinion I repeat my opinion on track and the techniques I use to make track survive in an outdoor environment. 

A lot of this info in this post can apply to both 2 rail and 3 rail track.

The top 2 brands of tracks for Outdoor use would be the newer Atlas O and PECO track. I would say Gargraves 3^rd.  The biggest reason for Atlas and PECO is the plastic ties are UV Resistant.  I feel UV is the biggest problem with outdoor railroads, and a close second would be moisture; both Atlas and PECO use Nickle Silver which is perfect for outdoor use.  Rail height for Atlas is code 148 and PECO is code 143. 

As far as Gargraves you have a choice of Stainless Steel rail or Tinplate, hands down Stainless would be the choice to use in the outdoors.  The other problem with Gargraves track is the wooden ties; you need to treat the ties with some sort of protectant to keep them from becoming bug food and rotting out.   

As I mentioned before I have a very limited budget for this hobby and one of my biggest pet peeves is the cost of track and turnouts. With Atlas going between $17.00 and $20.00 per basic 3 foot section, plus a #8 or #10 turnout going for at least $90.00 a pop, for the size of layout that I want to build I would never be able to afford to buy trains or do landscaping.  PECO is better priced at about $11.00 per 3 foot section and $55.00 for turnouts.

 I like PECO the best, I used it with my old HO Scale Outdoor layout and it stood up to the elements and was virtually trouble free, all I would do was use a mixture of WD-40 and 97% rubbing alcohol on a rag, wipe the track down and I was running trains, this technique worked great for me.  

There is other brand’s out there and they may work just as well but I am not familiar with them. 

The reason I am using Gargraves and the problems of using Gargraves.

Have I mentioned before I am cheap. I try to buy my track used,  unfortunately I usually only see the older non UV protected Atlas track for sale in the used market, I think it would work okay by putting a UV protectant coating on the ties before using but I couldn’t say how well it will stand up over a long period of time.  I have never seen the Code 143 PECO track in the used market.  

The biggest reason I am using Gargraves 2 rail track is you can find it way cheaper on the used market than the other brands of track, I have been able to score most of my track on average of between $1.00 and $2.00 a 3 foot section.  My first purchase was used Gargraves 2 rail with the stainless rail and  plastic ties; their plastic ties are UV resistant as well, unfortunately they no longer make their 2 rail track with plastic ties and I don’t see it on the used market very often.  

I also scored about 40 feet of used the stainless with wood ties, I have put a mix of both tie types down to see how well they do in outdoors, so far no problems with either one. 

As far as the wooden ties go,what I did was to make a vat with PVC and plastic sheeting to fit the length of the 3 foot sections of track. I filled the vat up with Thompson’s WaterSeal  Waterproofer Plus Clear  Wood Protector it helps prevent water damage and resists Mildew and UV damage also makes the wood less desirable to the creepy crawlies.  

I take the track and set them in the vat and let them soak completely submerged in the water seal and then soak for couple hours, I then pull the track out and hang them up on the clothesline and let them drip dry, once they dry for a while I will wipe the top of the rails with my WD-40 and 97% alcohol mixture and install the track on the layout. I plan to spray the ties on the layout down each season with the WaterSeal in hopes of prolonging the life of the wooden Gargraves ties outdoors. 

I am also testing tinplate Gargraves track outdoors as well, crazy I know, but what I did was to use my Waterseal procedure with the tinplate track, but I also added WD-40 to the mixture, here is a picture of a 2 rail tinplate track and a stainless 3 rail track setting on the table since early October of last year, tinplate track still looks as good as the stainless.  

You might be asking why on earth I would be wasting my time testing the tinplate, well did I mention I am cheap, I scored over a 100 feet of tinplate 2 rail track for just little over $50.00 it was too good a deal to pass up, I figure if my experiment fails I can use the track inside my shed when I run the line to the shed. I also might add that besides using a magnate to test weather you have stainless or tinplate track Gargraves painted a silver mark on the bottom of some of the ties on stainless track. 

I was very irritated with Gargraves becuse about 9 months ago they stop making turnouts for 2 rail O scale, their manual large radius turnouts were reasonably priced, in some ways it may be a blessing in disguise because let’s face it Gargraves switches are ugly, one of my alternatives is to buy material from Ross Custom Switches and scratch build my own #8 and #10 turnouts which look more prototypical. Ross has nice blueprints of their turnouts which I can use as guide to scratch build my own turnouts, and I will be able to build the turnouts for a fraction of the cost.   

(A little caveat here, I feel it is very important in outdoor use to use feeder wires at every section of track weather you do it by soldering or mechanical means) More on this in a later posting. 

Until Next Time.

Tuck's Ironhorse Rambles