How many of you guys had to replace your track?

Let's see, Lionel tubular track, seems like it had been around forever. Reliable, has met the test of time, and is probably the most popular track system in use in our O-Gauge hobby.

Very simple answer, NEVER!!!!!!!!!

I have never had to replace or straighten my track.  Its been on the layout since the late 80's.  It is not unusual for me to walk on the track while putting things away overhead or making changes in the layout.  To me the weight bearing ability of the "O" tubular track is really impressive. 

Yep, O tubular for me. Other than pieces I've destroyed myself with a little too much heavy-handed twisting or pulling, it's been durable for years. 

I have all Atlas track and I feel like I will wear out before it does.  With solid nickel  silver rails, it is very durable.  But, mine isn't exposed to the things that a modular layout is either.

Art

Something that gets transported regularly is much different than most of our permanent layouts that just sit in one place all the time and never get moved let alone transported to train shows. Perhaps a solid rail track like Atlas or Scaletrax would be less likely to be bent or dented? I suppose even the solid rail track could be nicked and gouged though, but would probably still be a bit more resistant to damage than hollow rail track.

I think some of the older Realtrax was also solid rail, before they went to the current hollow rail track they have now. However, it may be hard to find now days as I think it's been a while since they stopped making the solid rail Realtrax.

Something to put on top of the modules for some added protection might also help, but could be difficult to make if you have scenery and accessories permanently mounted on the modules. Not sure what to even suggest using for something like that?

One more thought, maybe some hard foam insulation (like some use on their layouts) cut to fit over just the track might add some protection. It is light weight and would offer some protection if it would even be feasible to attempt cutting it to somehow cover just the track and getting it to stay in place. 

i would examine how you are transporting it.  sounds like a lot of stress on the rails.  

Gargraves tinplate steel rail, Ross Custom Steel rail, which for Looks, electrical continuity, and realism is Great. However,if you drop something heavy on the rails, it could easily dent the rail. Atlas O, solid rail is really durable. As stated earlier, permanent layouts made with mix-matched track tend to Last a Lifetime.....I used almost all Atlas O and Ross Custom, and Gargraves mixed for my layout....Its going to Out Live Me, I think.

Happy Railroading.

My old club IHMD had GarGraves track and some of the modules traveled for 19 years.

Our layout had it share of dents and dings and we replaced/repaired as needed.  But not on a wholesale basis.

abuse and "extensive wear" are two different things. atlas while having solid rail ,will pop off the ties if it gets bent sideways. sounds like O tubular would work the best for club members that carelessly handle layout sections. you group needs to review how those sections get moved and transported.-Jim

Modules can really get beat up.

You really have to take extra care, especially the ends.

From time to time you need to pull a track on a module and lay new track.

When I did my Eagle Scout Project at the National City Historic Train Depot, I said to the donors that any remaining funds will be put towards re tracking the three rail layout to Atlas Track after the Gargraves track they had was thinning out real bad after 30 years of service. Whole layout was done 2 years ago.

For the San Diego 3-Railers, we (meaning bigdodgetrain, Roger L or someone else has to replace our switches on our dogbone loop because the switches endures a lot of Big Boys, Challengers and big Locomotives roll through those switches all day for 6 days a week and 32 hours plus a week. We have to replace the double crossover for our route into our tunnels. That layout has Atlas Tracks and switches with a few amount of Ross Custom Switches.

We repair or replace track (Gargraves and Ross) as needed at NJ Hirailers Club. Our switches are repaired or replaced more often than track. They literally fall apart from the constant pounding. 

My tubular track has been down for 33 years and looks as good today as it did years ago.  I run a lot of trains over these rails.

Our club/museum has replaced quite a bit of track, mostly Gargraves stainless (which was donated; we wouldn't have bought stainless!). The problems have had a number of causes, mainly installation issues. The track was originally laid in a hurry to make a deadline for opening the new building. Corners were cut. This was before my time and nobody now around is exactly sure what happened, but some genius had problems soldering wires to stainless track (no surprise) and decided that the solution was acid flux. Years later the bill for that blunder came due. A lot of track was laid sloppily and without sufficient provision for temperature expansion, so a lot of humps and bumps developed. Some individuals who worked on the track didn't get the concept of "tight enough" and screwed down the ties extra tight at joints, resulting in dips that were sometimes so big that pilots shorted out on the center rail or the leading truck on steamers derailed. The 0 gauge chairman used to joke about using my Lionel Milwaukee Road Northern as a test engine to search for bad track, since it is extremely sensitive to flaws in the track and will derail at very minor bumps and dips. 

One more problem, not a track issue as such. Somebody (again, no one now active knows who) decided that 20-22 gauge wire was adequate for 50-foot runs to power the corners of the layout. It isn't.  We had a lot of chronic slow spots. Most of the wiring has been replaced over the past two summers, when we close for annual renovations. 

The moral of the story is: planning and preparation are everything. That which is done in haste will be done again when it comes undone. 

Our portable layouts are transported on homemade racks to make sure that the track and other things don't take any hits in transit. The racks are set up so they can be put into a pickup bed or a trailer and then loaded with the modules. 

We've replaced track, mostly on realignments. The most recent replacement was three small sections resulting from replacing a broken turnout (an Atlas #5 we had been given over a decade ago). We replaced it with a Ross 11-degree with Gargraves to fill in the realignment. We've had a couple of places where Gargraves track has developed dings and one hole (?) which were repaired by forming a patch from molten solder and filing it to the shape of the rail head. Due to their small size, they've held up for years.

While Gargraves is nice track it can get damaged easier then Lionel's tubular track. 

A heavy engine will damage Gargraves track if it hits it just right and bend the rail down.

I use Gargraves stainless steel track because of the high humidity here in south Florida.

Lee Fritz

Our club modules have Atlas track, the only place it gets damaged is at the edges.  We haven't replaced any yet, but it's gotten a few repairs.  Traveling modules get a lot more wear and damage than a static display.

Makido 4501,

    Thomas Brian gave you the real skinny, re-read his post, its spot on the money.

PCRR/Dave

Bingo!

Bingo, Again!!  

Thomas,

The major culprit is the choice of track to begin with. Next would be the folks who handle and assemble the modules. There's many good suggestions above. It's only a matter of certain individuals taking heed. The only thing that I can add would be this. Convert everything to postwar Lionel tubular or K-Line tubular. Both with extra ties for added strength. Better yet and probably more affordable would be the American made modern tubular that a few of the Tinplater's are using.

I don't see any situation where a fixed and covered (that is, indoors with a modicum of climate control) layout would ever "need" its track replaced.

Modular layouts are certainly different. We had a modular and transportable layout that used Atlas track. It was too fragile for long-term banging around, even with care.

We were often fixing it. I'm sure some will disagree, but that was our experience.

Gar Graves would have been better, probably.

Lionel tubular (and clones) is the most rugged, as its DNA is toy DNA. 

Problem is: it's ugly as homemade sin. Really. Can't make it look "good", unless you are going for the toy look, which we weren't. All the ballast and huge ties in the world are just lipstick on a pig. 

It could be improved (Super-O-ish, with more metal, you say?) and still be pretty tough.

I have yet to decide whether Fastrack is a step up from PW, or just silly-looking. Depends on my mood.