Lionel "T" Rail Track

@fisch330 had a beautiful recreation of the 1938 Lionel Showroom Layout, which used T-Rail track, and this appeared in both CTT in 1998, and in many TM's videos like the Lionel Century video.

Because it was around for only 5-6 years, T-Rail track is pretty scarce, especially straights and switches. 

The challenge with T-Rail is that it has absolutely ZERO flexibility when assembling.

The only places I have somewhat regularly seen T-Rail is on the 'bay and at York... and it commands a price.

Mike,

I have a full circle and two switches of T-Rail, sans joiner plates.  I would have to dig them out, but if you would pay the shipping.  It would please me to see someone put them to good use.  They came in  a small collection that I purchased about twenty years ago.  See my profile for my contact info.

Earl Trygar   

Good luck, it is good stuff. I had a friend who had an oval of it for his 700E and Rail Chief Cars. It is difficult to find complete, that is with all the hardware and as stated above. It is unforgiving or not very flexible. There is a layout in one of the Great Layout books published years ago

Last year Stouts auction house sold a lot of T rail so watch for their next auction.

Here's a sample of T rail sold:

https://connect.invaluable.com...rved-and_A9E426E981/

If you're on Facebook, there's a group, don't know if it's still active.  Think it was called "Lionel T Rail Operators" or something like that.  There were only a few guys in the group, but they shared photos and info.

H. Michael Spanier posted:

I have been developing an interest in the Lionel "T" Rail track system.  Anyone use this track system? Any layout photos? Know where to find it? Know where to learn more about it? I believe the years it was offered were 1937 to 1942. Is this the correct forum to ask this question?

What can I say! I can't tell you why I am interested.!!! I find the obscure interesting!!

 

I have been using T-Rail Track for the last 30 years. Lionel produced it from 1935 until 1942. Original items are limited to #771 Curved, #772 Straight, #730 90 degrees crossover, #731 O72 Switches and the very scarce #772S insulated straight track section produced only from 1940-1942. It is a pity that Lionel did not continue to produce this after the war. Uncoupler track sections were not produced but are available, some made by Madison Hardware in NY City and many hand/home made. I personally have made my own UCS sections and several 45 degree crossovers. T-rail track is not flexible, as many critics claim, but it is highly conductive and works well with magna-traction engines. I'll try to attach some photos of my layout and hope they come through.

I actually have several friends who have T-rail layouts.

You can see blurbs and a few pics of a couple of them in the Friend's Layouts section of www.Warrenvillerailroad.com.

I have only seen one layout using T-Rail track. I have no first hand experience with it, but other enthusiasts have said that it was the best track system Lionel ever produced. The reason is that trains ran more smoothly over it, so the story goes. Can some of you who do have T-rail layouts tell us if your trains perform better with this track than with other track systems? Inquiring minds want to know. 

My experience has been that the trains operate very well over the entire 23'X26' layout with only three power leads to the layout. Conductivity and connectivity is superb. The track is flat on the top which make it excellent for contact and adhesion to the flat surfaces of the engine wheels resulting in better traction even without the 'magna-traction' feature. It is easily cleaned with a very fine emery cloth and should be vacuumed after every rub down to prevent and tiny metal particles from being sucked up by the magna-traction engine trucks causing friction or damage.

This conjecture my part, but I believe that Lionel produced T-Rail track because it most viable competitor, Maerklin Trains from Germany was making inroads into the O Gauge train market when the produced a lower profile Solid rail track system in the early 1930's. After the war was over and the German industry was decimated, Lionel felt the threat was over and never continued production again. Just a thought.

I saw some T rail track and switches for the 1st time this past weekend at the Big E train show.

I know very little about it except for what I read about it this evening on this thread, but my impression of it, when I looked at it closely and held it in my hand, was that it is very high quality track. It makes perfect sense to me that trains run great on it. 

Although I can understand how its lack of flexibility could be a disadvantage when building a layout, that could also be a plus to prevent the track from warping. Arnold

I too saw some at the big E show this past weekend. It looks nice but it's scarecity and lack of switches other than 072 prohibits me from looking further into it.

If it was as good as everyone says it is, you would think someone would produce it, or something very much like it. I guess Atlas track would come close to T rail?

I remember the guy who has that great T-rail layout that was on a TM video. HE also owned the Crab Orchard Railroad. It was a fairly large T-rail layout, and it was about 25 years ago. I wonder what happened to that layout as that guy would be pretty old now if he is still with us.

Fritz Von Togan (spelling)?

Train Nut posted:

Fritz Von Togan (spelling)?

Cincy would be referring to Chuck Roehm.  Don’t know if the gentleman or his layout are still “with us”.

 Curt

The currently running thread about Super O Track made me think of T Rail, so I did a Forum search and found this thread.

As mentioned above, the T Rail I saw at the Big E a couple of years ago (the first time I  ever saw it up close) was very impressive. I remember picking up a few pieces of track and a couple of switches and thinking it was made of top quality materials, and that it would be nice for a Carpet Central layout. To have a large basement layout with it would be impractical and unthinkable for me and I imagine many others mainly because of the cost.

Others have commented that O Gauge trains run very well on it, particularly pre-war and Postwar Lionel. I wonder how modern MTH and Lionel would run on it. Does anyone know the answer or have other thoughts to share about Lionel T Rail made from 1937 to 1942?

Arnold

Interesting Prewar Lionel offered T-rail and post war American Flyer was T-rail.

Arnold,

I have a couple friends who run pre-war, post-war and modern Lionel on T-rail track.

A couple pics of their layouts are in the "Friend's Layouts" section of my website. This link will bring you to a great T-rail layout:  "Friend's Layouts" Installment#4, Plus a Lionel T-Rail Track Primer Bonus! (warrenvillerailroad.com)

I have a 8 foot by 35 foot loop of t-rail on my layout. Prewar, postwar and modern trains all run very smooth on the rails. I feel it's by far the best o gauge track ever built. Believe it or not the engine I have found that does not run well on t-rail is the 1990 hudson remake. Go figure!!