Grounding question, postwar tubular track

No problem.  Lionel tubular track had the outer rails connected through the steel ties.

If you visualize reverse loops and metal axles/wheelsets in addition to the metal track ties, you will see the running rails are all the same electrically.

Crap, you're right. Told you it was a stupid question. At least I was smart enough not to  rewire the whole **** layout.

Thank you very much, Jerry

There are no stupid questions, only people who are too stupid to ask when they have one.

I have two mainline circuits around the perimeter of a 23' x 23' room and had no need for additional feed wires. The track has power fed at one point and the track has good continuity all the way around. It was all secondhand track and I was careful to clean all the track pins and make sure they fit tight. I soldered jumpers across a few joints if they showed voltage drop under load.