Lionel track

Lionel made some 027 track with brown ties.

Charlie

The black tie track was made up to about 1960 when the ties changed to a silver/grey, which were shipped through 1969 before MPC. The brown ties was it after that, they were lithograph woodgrain for a few years 1970-1972, then went to solid brown from then on.

Ok thanks will help me sort thru the pile!

This thread reminded me to ask a similar question about the 027 track found in the uncatalogued 1963ish Lionel 11011 Set.  Set is new as purchased by original family ... possibly later in the 1960s as some sets may have remained unsold.  Track looks a lot like the photos in the original post.  Note comics used by the store to line the set.  Interior partition is the original die cut but def not sturdy and these sets would not survive much travel back in the day.

You guys might find this interesting too: Lionel Tubular track info & tips (warrenvillerailroad.com)

I think they started stamping "LIONEL" on their O27 track ties some time around the mid 1950's. Without that stamp, you need to consider that the track section may have been made by some other company, such as Marx. I believe that all three of the sections of track in my picture were made by Lionel, but it is hard to be sure about the bottom section. The track pins are not like Marx, so I am guessing it is Lionel.

Your photo did not come through.  I wondered about the Lionel stamping as well.  It seems the OPs track is missing this as well.  Not sure why the uncatalogued set would end up with marx track considering it was new store stock. 

My layout was all "O" gauge with Johnsons Rubber roadbed. I loved it. It worked great.

Here is a photo of Lionel track compared with a section at the bottom which I know was made by Marx (I know this because even though it is not labeled, it has a Marx factory installed uncoupler attached). The Marx section has different pins and at least this sample has different tie spacing which woul make it difficult to be used with the original Lionel 110 Trestle set. There are also other makers of O27. I know that both K-Line and Williams made O27 in the modern period.

@John in California posted:

Here is a photo of Lionel track compared with a section at the bottom which I know was made by Marx (I know this because even though it is not labeled, it has a Marx factory installed uncoupler attached). The Marx section has different pins and at least this sample has different tie spacing which woul make it difficult to be used with the original Lionel 110 Trestle set. There are also other makers of O27. I know that both K-Line and Williams made O27 in the modern period.

Looks like Marx crimped the tie on to the center rail. I did a quick search on line and all Marx track had the tie crimped on to the middle rail, Lionel did not.

The puzzle continues.  The pins on the track in the set align with Marx as does the middle tie crimping.  Williams and K-Line track had the curl/anti scuff tie shape.  Note the track is also zip tied....when were zip ties first used?   First time I have ever seen a zip tie around Lionel track.  I assume the store had to improvise on these odd sets in the 1963ish timeframe.  Perhaps Lionel left it to the store to assemble the set using odd parts and the store didn't receive enough track.  I am sure things were beginning to be chaotic at the time in dealing with Lionel.  Hence the very plain rolling stock.  The owner is not a train collector so the sets would have been bought as presented and stored.  Not collectors but good care was taken on the sets they owned.  Store was a dept store of the era not a train store as well.

@Mike W. posted:

...Perhaps Lionel left it to the store to assemble the set using odd parts and the store didn't receive enough track...

No, that is Marx track, and it was substituted for the original track.

Yep.  Just wondering why the store would have swapped.  Or perhaps they grabbed the original track from a slow selling set for another purpose.  Set is unrun so no reason to swap parts after purchase.  Recall this was purchased new as bought by the original owner who never used it and would have no reason to substitute track.  The store must have done so and its why many of these have crude dividers built into box.  Somewhat thrown together per store needs.  Maybe the store had Marx and the Lionel Set was not supplied with track.