Layout update Lionel Lehigh Valley GP9

Layout looks nice so far, keep working on it.

With the 2 rail rolling stock you may need to change the wheels out for 2 reasons; the first is tracking or derailment issues as the wheel flanges are different then 3 rail and also the coupler mounting might be different, the second can be rail activation of accessories as 2 rail wheel sets don't make contact to the other outside rail. If the 2 rail cars work on your track with no derailments then don't worry.

Lee Fritz

Thanks been running it for days for about 2-3 hrs no problems 

lee drennen posted:

Thanks been running it for days for about 2-3 hrs no problems 

But,,,,,,,do you have any turnouts? What brand are they? Have you tried backing through a 3-Rail turnout with your 2-Rail SCALE cars?

Thanks. I will be adding 4 more feet to it to give me a total of 12' X 4' with some wall space for some false front buildings 

lee drennen posted:

Thanks. I will be adding 4 more feet to it to give me a total of 12' X 4' with some wall space for some false front buildings 

OK but,,,,,,,,you didn't answer the question about turnouts, or the brand of track/turnouts you are or will use. The 2-Rail SCALE wheels do not like many brands of 3-Rail turnouts.

I'm going to use the fast track switches on the 4' I haven't build yet I will test them before I Permanently  installed them 

Good luck with that. Fastrack with its u shaped rail and narrow scale flanges equal minimal surface area contact.

Thanks been doing great so far 

lee drennen posted:

Thanks been doing great so far 

But,,,,,, you have no turnouts installed yet, do you? Those 2-Rail SCALE wheels will run all day long on a simple loop of track, without any turnouts.

I found a couple of Weaver cars I had been looking for some time but they were for two rail. When I got them I tried running them as is. I use Gar  Graves track and Ross switches. The cars rolled down the track good but I had trouble with the switches. I had to change out the O scale wheels for three rail wheels.......................Paul

paul 2 posted:

I found a couple of Weaver cars I had been looking for some time but they were for two rail. When I got them I tried running them as is. I use Gar  Graves track and Ross switches. The cars rolled down the track good but I had trouble with the switches. I had to change out the O scale wheels for three rail wheels.......................Paul

Exactly. The only 3-Rail track systems that seem to tolerate 2-Rail SCALE wheels are MTH Scale Trax, and Atlas solid nickel silver. Even the Atlas turnouts need to have the guard rails modified a bit.

Just a heads up. One of the reasons I switched over from Fast Track to Atlas.

My cars with 2R wheel sets would lean on the older 2nd generation rails,

Would derail in reverse even with the styrene shims( Gap is to wide to overcome without having issues with Highrail wheel sets)

Some cars would derail at low speed do to the same issue going forward.

You will need to run 084 curves and even then you will have issues with 6 axle diesels using scale wheels sets.

Just my 2 cents

No turnouts yet undecided about that

here this might help....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA

Lee,

I have only been in this hobby for 10 years & I also used to run 2-rail trains on 3-rail MTH Realtrax (with the center rail removed). I ran my trains on the floor for the last 10 years until recently. I liked the built-in roadbed on 3-rail tracks, which was unavailable in typical 2-rail tracks & I also liked the temporary nature of the sectional 3-rail tracks.

But it got boring after all these years to watch the trains running in a circle & so last year I bought an O-72 Realtrax turnout. I experienced derailments others have mentioned. I tried adding styrene strips to the guardrails which helped in some cases but not in all directions. I was also frustrated by the lack of Realtrax turnouts, larger than O-72 to run my longer freight cars & scale-length passenger cars. So now I have put my 3-rail track setup on hold & am communicating with dealers to pick up some proper 2-rail track, turnouts & accessories at next month’s Chicago O-Scale meet.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan