brass track

Brass track for HO is now a thing of the past. Nickel Silver is the way to go vs. Steel Alloy. Unless you have tons of brass track that is in great condition, I'd invest in new NS track. Even when it corrodes, it is still conductive (unlike Brass and Steel which both become non-conductive through corrosion). This means you don't have to spend more time cleaning track than actually running trains.

When you mention 'gauge', I'm guessing you mean 'code'. In my opinion, the code you choose is up to individual taste. You should look around (hobby stores, clubs, shows) to see the difference. In Atlas track, I like the appearance of the code 83 vs. code 100. I'm fairly certain that every Atlas sectional piece available in code 100 is also available in code 83 (which wasn't the case a year or two ago). There are other makes and codes out there as well, but this is what I primarily deal in.

Paul

Brass track is code 100 Clean it use it, it works,later on replace with nickle silver track they can be both used together

Have fun that what railroading is all about.

Anthony theantman1@big(fish)pond.com

remove (fish) to respond Ant from Downunder

I have to disagree. Brass gets dirty (oxidation) way too easily. NS is the only way to go. Looks better too.

-John

It would depend on how much brass track you are talking about. If it is just a loop, go ahead and switch. If you have tens of turnouts, switching would cost a lot more obviously. I've used nickel-silver since I introduced to it with N-scale in 1969. But I've not had near the problems other people talk about with brass. I actually like the look of old brass track, and end up painting the NS to get it to look right.

There is no "Best Gauge" of track. Code 100 is the traditional HO size, is more common and durable but least good looking. Code 83 is much closer to the size of prototypical main lines but much more fragile to work with. It is probably now the second most common size. Code 75 is a Peco thing. While I love Peco turnouts, if one uses this they have no choice but to stick with Peco unless they don't mind having transisions all over the place. Code 70 is the size of some mains, branch line, and spurs. Looks the best, more rare to find, and yet more fragile.

The choice is yours but if children are involved I would stick with code

100 in case they put things on it or lean on it. It will hold up while others break. I've used (over 40 years now) and still use Atlas Code 100 for many many things.

P.S. As someone on this group pointed out about a year ago (surprise the heck out of me) - "nickel-silver" is nickel and silver only in name. It is another form of brass so one can mix them without the normal bi-metal reactions.