Fastrack

I suggest asking Lionel, they made that decision.

Like we'll get an answer 🙁

Well, I didn't really expect an answer, but nobody here truly knows why I suspect.  My guess would be it was easier to manufacture with the tubular form, but I don't really know what the reasoning was.  Since I abandoned Fastrack and went to Gargraves/Ross, I don't have a dog in the fight anymore.

Does the FT rail shape provide better conductivity on hi-rail wheels and flanges ?

Gargraves rail on a Fastrack base.  Wouldn't that have been something?  No connection problems and you could cut to fit.

One of the bonuses of using Gargraves/Ross is the ease of fitting.  I kept my chop saw with the cutting wheel and my Dremel at the ready, laying the track went very smoothly.  Don't discount the flex track, it makes a lot of tricky layout issues much easier to resolve.

I believe I read in one of the older catalogs. Lionel stated the round shape reduces wheel wear.

That makes sense I suppose, but I don't think there's ever been a complaint of worn out wheels using another brand of more realistic track.

I think that's a crock.  Other than Lionel Super-O Track with it's knife-edge center rail, I've never seen anyone have wear issues with different track types.  I know that Henning's Trains has an outside track in the front of the store with Atlas solid rail, they run a couple of locomotives for hours and hours a day on that.  The center rollers wear down, and the motors finally die, but no problem with wheels.

Hi @Richie C.

Honestly IMHO, I doubt if there's any difference between rail profiles and truck wheel contact ever since Lionel and other manufacturers went to fast angle wheels.

I don't know the answer, either. But I've been using Fastrack for 11 years now with never a problem. It fits together well and I like the built-in roadbed. The only drawback is the noise, but with the trains running and making their own noise, in the long run it doesn't seem to matter.

There was a time I considered changing all of it out to Gargraves track and Ross switches, since I have a Dremel, etc. But I think my layout is in its twilight years, so decided to stick with the Fastrack. I agree with Junior above, that rail profiles and wheel contact have never been much of an issue.

It's probably easier and less costly to manufacture tubular rail than solid flat-topped rail.

Real railroads use flat-topped rail because the weight on a wheel is distributed approximately equally across the contact area, which results in a more equally distributed stress across the width of the rail and wheel. A rail with a circular top, like Fastrack, has a point contact between the rail and the wheel, which creates a high stress around the point of contact because the area of contact is small. In theory, the high stress is more likely to increase the rate of wheel and rail wear compared to a flat-topped rail. At any rate, that's the theory. Whether a difference in wheel/rail wear between flat-topped and tubular rail profiles has been established for model train wheels and track is an open question as far as I know. I do think that traction tires may wear faster with tubular rail than with flat-topped rail. I use Atlas O solid flat-topped rail.

MELGAR

My original Gragraves layout, parts going back to late 80s, was donated and rebuilt using DCS for a museum (pictures at strasburgmuseum.org).  I came into a large cache of old Lionel 0-72 tubular and was able to build a new layout at home.  The old 711 switches required a lot of work and I acquired a few more.  Adding ties, ballast, and painting the rails made it look pretty good and of course it works fine for my analog trains and new Railsounds audio.  As tempting as today's more realistic and very expensive options are, this will do for my remaining years as a kid.

While fastrack is noisy and its gone up in price. still with that being said I have it on my small layout and it has worked great for over 10 years. no rust or electrical issues whatsoever.

I purchased some 072 fastrack switches a whilw back to test out and they work flawlessly. also the built in tmcc control is nice and simple to set up.

if and when I ever get to exspand my layout. I may just stick with fastrack and use all 072 switches and 072 and 080 curves.

I like the built in roadbed it saves ballasting miles of track. I weathered my fastrack and will eventually ballast the sides someday to make it look more realistic.

lionel is long over due for bigger radius switches IMO. maybe a #4 or #6 would be nice to have in the fastrack line. since most of there new high end steamers are 072 minimum. you would think this would futher help sell the fastrack line.

I talked to ryan at lionel once at a show and he said he was open to adding more switches to the line. its probably low on his list though. given all the items they produce.

maybe if we asked in big numbers as a group and showed there was a demand for these in the line and could sell well. he would make them.

There is one single advantage to Fastrack that I am aware of. And Lionel is also aware of it with many decades of experience using a very similar design in their O gauge turnouts and their old line of OO gauge track. The shape and material used in the rails lends to a very very easy electrical contact. This makes almost every section of track a terminal track with the wiring completely hidden under the roadbed. There are also disadvantages, but I sense that your question is looking for something that makes Fastrack stand out design wise.

This forum has long debated the pros and cons of Fastrack, but now that I have started using it on Carpet Central holiday layouts and on my "TimeWaster" switching layout, my views on the product are positive.  True, the amplification of track noise by the plastic base is there (at a transition from tubular to Fastrack, the hissing of train wheels changes to a dull roar).  However,  consider that Fastrack delivers a good track product to an under-represented voice on this forum - the novice entrant to O gauge trains.  I recently completed several sale days downsizing my inventory.   A number of folks asked about putting together a train set (from what I had on the tables)  for their kids/grandkids.  After listing the (postwar or modern) components necessary to run around  a basic loop and watching their eyes glaze over,  I now recommend they buy a basic train set with Bluetooth control.  Add items from my sale table later.   The parents can put the layout together with instructions out of the box.  The kids get to use a phone/iPad to run the trains, and the layout is easily expandable with plug-in accessories and more track.  Everyone is happy.  At a show, I put an iPad on a stand and the kids instantly took to the interface to run the trains.   A win.  Novices do not have the patience to wire up accessories anymore so Lionel's direction to produce plug-in accessories is a huge win for them and the hobby (though I cringe at the price tags).

The Fastrack Command Control switches are a win.  No need for ASC boxes, aux power, and wiring.  My switching layout needed one wire from each switch to the STM2, but if you don't need the feedback, that could be omitted.  My upcoming Carpet Central holiday layout will just have bare switches - no controllers or wires.  Just assembling the switch into the Fastrack plan and providing the address code gets Carpet Central up and running.  I'm too old to be crawling around the tree running lots of control and aux power wires.

Just my two cents worth, but I'll be buying more Fastrack in the future.

Gargraves rail is still the best and connections are solid.  I wish the ties had been closer to scale but I assume higher cost and weaker.  As I said earlier, Gargraves rail on a fastrack base would have been ideal.