Lionel "Super O" Track...Thoughts?

Some folks think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread; most others seem to have moved on to one of the many other O gauge track systems available today.

There's certainly nothing wrong with using it, IF you can find all the sections you will need.  You'll soon see the pros and cons noted in this thread.

Some devotees would like to see it produced again, but my guess is there is slim to no chance of that happening.

I will stick my neck out with the following:

The remote control switch mechanisms are troublesome.

When I had a Super "O" layout, I found that the slide shoes for operating cars and engines with electromagnetic couplers tended to snag on the switches. They also hung up on some uncoupling magnets.

The flanges of prewar trains with formed sheet metal wheels would bump on the ties.

I ended up putting a loop of traditional "O" gauge track in the center of my super "O" track so I could run the prewar trains. I also removed the uncoupling track from the mainline of the super "O" track.

I have fond memories of seeing this catalog'd in the 1966 Lionel catalog.  I dreamed of building a layout based on Super-O track back in those days.  But the reality of the situation dictated regular O-27 track. 

Would very much agree with Allan's comments though.  Lionel's commitment to their FasTrack brand pretty much put the final nail in the coffin for any hopes of the company resurrecting its Super-O brand of decades gone by.

David

Some devotees would like to see it produced again, but my guess is there is slim to no chance of that happening.

 

I've got to agree with Allan.  The cons of original Super O and the availability of newer track systems that combine the big plus of Super O (a more realistic look for 3 rail track) with greater selection of curves and a greater variety of better functioning switches make it unlikely we will see new Super O.

There are three 3RS track systems that offer curves of O-72 and greater, flex track and a selection of switches that include O-72 and numbered switches.  They are Atlas, MTH ScaleTrax and Ross/Gargraves. 

A great layout can be built with any of the tree systems.  Atlas has a nice selection of sectional track.  Ross has the greatest selection of switches and they are regarded as the most reliable switches available in O.  Scaletrax has really flexible flex track, a thin center rail and can be customized with track laying techniques common to HO and 2 rail O.  ScaleTrax has the thin center rail in common with Super O and I do like the look.

I really like Super O, but my layout is Fastrack due to the variety of diameters and bullet-proof switches.   For my next layout, I am considering Atlas-O, Ross, Fastrack, and Super O.   I would go with Super O if wider diameters were available.  

Recently, I purchased an oval of Super O, and its really great looking and sound track.  The center-rail "caps" are the weakest point in the design (IMO), but work fine.

I think it is a shame that Lionel did not continue and invest more in the track, it was innovative for the time and still excellent.   It is still widely available.

That being said, there are other great track choices available now.

FT, is O-36, like Super O.  Hence, I don't see Lionel importing SO, except for maybe an adapter track between the two O-36 types.

What is interesting is that when FT first came out, there was cataloged for a short time, a very short unclupling track, the length on the subby SO one!

For this group, one disadvantage of SO is the rise in the ties for connecting the center rail.  And that rail in iself have caused grief for 3rd rail rollers.

Thanks for all the replies. I had been planning on using old 1950s Lionel O-gauge track sections that have been boxed up since 1980 or so & that were likely bought new by a previous member of my family. My original idea was to do a basic 4' x 8' setup without investing much $$ by using as much of the stuff that I've had stored away since I was a kid, but as I've been delving into it, I've begun considering other options. I guess I'm interested in finding out what the least expensive "significant" upgrade would be over my current Lionel sections in terms of realistic appearance. I've only seen the Super-O in pictures online, and it appears that I could get all the sections my layout requires for @$100.

I called the only semi-local hobby store yesterday that sells old trains, and as I began to inquire about their Super-O stock, he cut me off to say that I was confusing Super-O with FasTrack™. He insisted that the only Lionel track that had continuous ties running perpendicular to the 3 rails was/is the FasTrack™. My understanding is that the FasTrack™ has the gray plastic bedding attached to the track sections, and the store owner told me he was busy with customers and didn't have time to argue with me about what he knew "to be fact" that Super-O was merely a higher-profile version of regular O and did not have continuous ties running across it; he basically hung up on me at that point. Seems that most people interested in the old trains are quite friendly and generous with offering advice/suggestions, but not this guy.

At any rate, does ~$100 for older sections of the out-of-production Super-O (considering the issues noted above with the coupling links & power connectors) seem like the best bang for the buck? I don't have unlimited funds to dump into this project, and if I can't upgrade the track I already have for under $100 or so, I'll stay put.

Thanks!

Considering that you  already have some super O on hand, why not pick up any extras you might need to complete your original loop and have a go at it?

Super O is...  well SUPER and has the combination of being really nice track as well as having the 'nostalgia factor'. Later, you can always start with another system if you chose to do so and there is always a ready market for your old track.

You could make a loop, turnouts, et. al with the SO you have now.  Once you need a second loop, or something else, you couls go with FT.

You CAN connect SO to FT by:  SO to o-31 tin addapter, then O-31/FT adapter track.

I thought the Original Poster wrote that he had "O" gauge track, not "Super O".

CW is correct. Sorry if somehow my posts were ambiguous, but I do not have any "Super-O" track.

Mike Spanier, who participates on this forum, buys and sells super O track. I'm sure he can answer any questions that you might have. https://ogrforum.com/t...kage?reply=lastReply

Someone I know picked up some similar looking track by k-line. I had to do a double take, it looked allot like black tie S.O., "Snap track" maybe?  

In re reading your original post, I see that I missed what you had said!

Sorry for any confusion...

I was one of the earliest purchasers of Super O Track when it arrived at one of my local train dealers a Firestone tire store in September, 1957 on Sheepshead Bay Road in Brooklyn, NY. I still use it on one of my two lines. I have many pieces stored in boxes that I probably never use if anyone is interested. Email me at: edmickey@optonline.net.