Replacement Track NW UK

Cheap SS will give you more rust, too much chlorine or sodium metasilicate... there are tons of different SS alloys...

Also die extruded or rolled rail (both common practices) can leave a little steel on the rail from the manufacturing process, and that will give some light rust that will go away.

Greg
 
This is what 2 years in the garden does to Cliff Barker stainless track. This was an offcut that's sat next to the running track since I built the layout. You can still even see the burn from the disc cutting. It's never been cleaned or had a loco do more than sit stationary on it.

Due to the smaller profile and reduced conductivity of stainless, if I was running track power, I would have droppers every 2m to a 6mm power main under the track.20230528_220225.jpg20230528_220253.jpg
 
Greg Elmassian said:
Cheap SS will give you more rust, too much chlorine or sodium metasilicate... there are tons of different SS alloys...

Greg
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Nothing to do with cheap, but to do with grade and therefore what it is used for, hard stainless will rust a little, soft stainless is less prone to rusting, check out the specifications.
 
Code 200 rail may have issues with some of LGB's pizza cutter wheels. Some LGB cars do the cadunk, cadunk, cadunk over the rail chairs on Peco Gauge 1 code 200. So do test things first. :(
 
While SS is less conductive, the loss in the rails is nothing as compared to the resistance in your connections. I run 10 amp trains, and a feeder every 30 to 40 feet is fine... measure the voltage loss across your joiners and where you clamp the rails, then measure the loss down unbroken rail... you will see what I say is true.
 
Greg Elmassian said:
meant cheap as in rusting kitchen utensils... no excuse for rust there...
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No, I think it is more to do with those of us who bought cutlery before domestic dishwashers were invented, and who are still using it nearly 50 years later and are finding that modern dishwashers are causing it to discolour - didn't happen when we washed up by hand in the sink :emo::emo:

Y'know, back in the day when you could get drunk for a penny and still have change :rock::rock::rock:
 
JimmyB said:
Kitchen utensils have to be made of the "harder" grade of SS, and so are more prone to rusting, this is a fact, ask any metallurgist.
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There are many grades of stainless steel - we had a metallurgist providing some consultancy at a government establishment where a drainage system was made from stainless steel, yet was rusting in certain places. the problem was washing down with a chlorine based solution (for obvious reasons) and the ultimate recommendation to prevent rust was to use an American made alloy called Hastalloy.

However, as this was more expensive than silver o_Oo_O an alternative strategy was to use thicker stainless steel, and to acknowledge that it would need replacing every 15 years or so ............................. and still be cheaper than the Hastalloy :oops::oops:

So the moral to my story is that with stainless steel, there are horse for courses.

Oh, and SS balcony railings on some expensive flats on the Sussex coast ................... that were showing signs of rust :eek:
 
Rhinochugger said:
No, I think it is more to do with those of us who bought cutlery before domestic dishwashers were invented, and who are still using it nearly 50 years later and are finding that modern dishwashers are causing it to discolour - didn't happen when we washed up by hand in the sink :emo::emo:

Y'know, back in the day when you could get drunk for a penny and still have change :rock::rock::rock:
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... even after a fish and chip supper and a ride home in a Hansom cab.
 
Yeah, a funny story from years ago, Aristo brought out SS rail, and it was a great price, 1/2 the price of the nearest competitor.

When people complained about "cleaning" brass track (meaning removing oxidation), they were recommended to use SS. (I started with SS, having many years of cleaning HO, N and Z track indoors).

Well there was this guy who ALWAYS popped up on EVERY thread mentioning SS rail about how terrible it was, the black stuff that formed on it, that hardened, etc. No one could figure it out, but for YEARS he would always comment on EVERY SS thread.

About 5 years later, he posted one picture of his track running on concrete that ran up to his house, and you could see the vinyl siding of the house about a foot away....

He mentioned that he lived in a Southern state, and was doing his regular 6 month spraying of the house with the mold remover compound, mostly sodium hypochlorite......

For years he was spraying this stuff on his rails and not washing it off (because he would be washing it off the bottom of the building also.... after this was brought to light, he NEVER posted again.

Greg
 
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