Need help - a friend has this track - we're trying to find out who made it (@ 70 years ago)?

It's called Flex-Track. It was made in the 1950's. Tiny sections in one continuous strip can form straight tracks and all manner of curves. It looked good on paper but apparently it didn't sell well. I imagine that all those tiny sections hampered electrical conductivity.

Used to have a couple of sections, very noisy.

 

Bill

This?

 

 

 

More pieces / accessories:

 

I think it is older than the 1950's. The photograph looks 1930's, and the trains pictured are 1937 American Flyers.

I agree with Chuck regarding how far back the Flex-I-Track goes. My stepbrother had a prewar American Flyer Zephyr set (the heavy diecast one, not tinplate) and he had several boxes of Flex-I-Track in with the set. 

My friend Bryan had some on a basement layout in 1955-56ish. - It was not new even then.  I think it was his Dad's pre-war set.  It was noisy, as has been observed, with, kind of a buzzing or clattering, particularly with a long train on it. We didn't mind the noise though, being just kids.   One other thing I remember was that it also "flexed" in the up-down dimension: he had very smooth transitions into and out of grades, etc., not like my layout at the time which made rather abrupt transitions in slope at the joiners of track pieces.

Thank you all for the information about this track - just what we needed. FYI - the article and photo in the OP was from 1934.

Not to be a nit-picker, but the date should be 1937, as that is the age of the 2 trains shown. The steam loco is a 1937 version of the 1681.

 I always thought you could make a great "O" scale roller coaster out of the flex-I-track.

Correct - the article was 1937 - Thanks

Oh I can't let my son see that or he'll want me to get some for trying loop-de-loops!

Rob, I remember seeing that stuff for sale in the 70's but never saw anyone run something on it. Thanks  Now all you need is the Audio-Engineer" Don

STOOOOOPPPPPP!!

Must have been a lot of it made.  I picked up a box of assorted track and there was two lengths of this at the bottom.  Interesting to see the switches and other accessories.

 

It would be perfect for someone wanting to build a Polar Express layout. Sure, the trains may not be able to actually negotiate the near-vertical grades, but they could nevertheless be built!

 

Aaron

Or you can use it to do this. Gary has made all kinds of unusual trains, almost always with Marx.

I have some to unload if anyone is interested.

Steve

 

An All-Terrain Train!!!

Also, there are two style of Flex-I-Track. Besides that seen above, there was some made with a thin center rail, almost like Super O.

 

Steve