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I recently helped dismantle a beautiful 3-rail scale layout that was using Atlas o track - my question - the center rail has 3 different finishes - why ???

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Some of the tracks transitioned from black to copper - why and how was this done ?

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Thx in advance

Joe S

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The black is just black oxide. It rubs and wears off, and some of us intentionally use a scotchbrite mild abrasive pad to polish the black off for better conductivity to rollers.

The back oxide- in my experience, doesn't work well with all rollers and can cause sparking or loss of power and other problems with example-DCS signal.

Last edited by Vernon Barry

Also, possible that Atlas over time and manufacturing runs changed their process. Most people have some used, new, and older track all mixed in when building a layout. Unless you just have that kind of cash and bought all new, all at the same time, same batch.

So it's possible some may not have had the copperish layer after the black was polished off.

@dorfj2 posted:

Thank you everyone - for me mystery solved 👍🏼

I have a ton of this track to get rid of - it’s in great shape just wanted an explanation if anyone would ask

If you don’t mind, I have a buddy of mine who’s just starting to build his layout, …he really could use a mountain of track,….would you mind contacting me, and I’ll put you two together?..

Pat

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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