Reviews on Gargraves Track

Wow, lots of great thoughts...I like Atlas O track, solid rail, pre-curved  072-081-091-099...Ross Switches....Also, minimum radius is 072. I like using Ross pre-curves 096-0108-0120...The reason for Atlas trackage, it's solid rail and Gargraves and Ross are hollow rail...Drop a heavy Locomotive on the hollow rail track and it dents....I use the track laid on Cork Roadbed, on Homasote, on 5/8 Plywood...All wires color coded....Dropped under the table. Good Luck, Keep us posted.

Hi "Leapin". Great looking layout. I probably would have gone with Atlas had it been available when I started, and I wasn't about to tear the Gargraves up and start over.  I just looked for ways to make it work.  I like the more realistic low profile Gargraves rail anyway, and at least plugged up the ends of exposed rail I used for guides.  My layout, which I donated to a local museum, was featured in the July 2015 issue of Classic Toy Trains, and you can find a CTT video of it on YouTube.  Although not scale, the wood ties have other advantages.  I screwed the track directly to the plywood, and they're tall enough to build up decent roadbed.  I used black dirt covered by Woodland Scenics 89 Coarse ballast.  The other neat special effect is for museum visitors.  All along the layout are painted 6" pieces of 2x4.  With the whole table acting as a sounding board, by putting your ear on the block you experience the full thunder and vibration of a massive steam train.  Lots of smiles!

John's Checker, Thank You for replying to my response. Please know that Gargraves Trackage is great and I have used it since the early 1970's. I was just expressing my opinion from the experience of my existing layout which was started in 2000.  This layout is my 5th and final layout and is completely Lionel Legacy Controlled.  We used woodland scenic's O scale ballast...Your layout sounds really nice...Post some pictures...Merry Christmas...

Merry C and Happy NY to you and everybody on the forum.  Here are some pictures.  The layout is in a restored baggage car and is 55' x 5-7'. The backdrop was photo shopped on my computer and illuminated from the rear with LEDs.

I have been experimenting with Atlas and GarGraves track for a few years for annual layouts on carpets.  I have to use stainless or nickel rails here in Hawaii due to rust on tinplate that quickly renders it useless.  I prefer the pin connection system of GarGraves to the clips on Atlas, as the contact seems more reliable and a bit less likely to vibrate apart.  The latter issue, of course, is not something that would apply to a track secured to a surface.  I found the GarGraves track to be a bit too weak to withstand rough handling (like someone stepping on the rail by accident), and the resultant distortion causes derailing issues.  I have tried both plastic and wood ties on the GarGrave, and found that a derailed train will quickly heat the rails enough to melt the plastic rails without blowing the inline fuses.  The wood ties, however, tend to break at the outside of the rails when gripped to insert one section of track into another. 

The solid stainless rails of the Atlas track are much more robust, but tend to work apart if built up on a carpet for Christmas.  I have had some success with zip ties on the ties to hold the connections together, but electrically they don't seem as reliable as GarGraves inserted pins. 

I have tried both terminal sections and wires soldered to pins on GarGraves, and prefer the latter, though it is not difficult to break the solder joint off the rail.  The terminal sections have plastic bases that will also quickly melt with a short caused by a derailed train.

The terminal sections on the Atlas track work well, though the connection issue between sections remains.

In the old days when I built a layout using Lionel tinplate track I soldered wires to each connection between rail sections to improve the conduction, and that worked well, though it was really a lot of work.  A similar technique with either GarGraves or Atlas would also work, but there is less to solder to.

In general I think I would prefer GarGraves if it were more robust (and everyone says it works better with Ross switches), but it does not take much to damage it.

I found that the GarGraves stainless track does not match up at the end of a full circle; they say it springs back after bending, to which I replied that they should then bend it tighter on special forms if stainless.  Atlas seems a bit better in this respect, but if the GarGrave tracks are secured it is not all that hard to correct the misalignment.  If the tracks are not secured there will be a discontinuity in the curvature between a curve and a straight in an oval layout.

Hey "LEAPIN" I see you are a fan of atlas track Would you recommend atlas switches to go with it or am I better off with ross switches?Still enjoying that H-7!!!! Nick

Some people have noted that Ross Switch ties are a little thicker than Gargraves track ties, thereby lading to a slight "bump" when going from one to the other. If you're using cork roadbed, place vinyl roadbed under the Ross switches and screw the latter down a little tighter to achieve a smooth transition.

Ross switches and Ross service are the best!

Hal

I bought some gargraves stainless sectional by mistake and used it anyway. It certainly does work with magnetraction. Also do yourself a favor. Before attempting to put gargraves together take a gargraves pin and with pliers insert the pin in to each rail and remove. This opens the rail just enough to put the pieces together normally. This is especially helpful on pieces that had to be cut to length.

Hi Rockstars, Nick, I really like Atlas O trackage, the selection of so many variations of sectional track is awesome. Their switches are fine, however, I like Ross switches better with DZ1000 switch machines...If I were younger, starting over, I would use DZ2500 slow motion machines. Now, if you want wider radius curves than 099, you can get wider radius curves from Ross. Happy Railroading...

Edit/Add:  I had helped with my friend Tom's layout. Layout was done, with used Gargraves track and an assortment of  used, Gargraves, and Ross switches.  A wonderful experience. All worked well, including the Gargraves switches.  The used prices were the best part of the project.   York Train Meet, usually yields a lot of used three rail track and switches. IMO.

Tom's Layout build.   Click on the underlined phrase.   

Additional note:  Gargraves track pins are slightly larger than Ross pins.  To ensure good joint continuity, Gargraves/Ross, I replaced all Ross pins with Gargraves.

In the mix of used track, there was a couple of piece of Stainless track, which was more difficult to solder.  Foggy head, thinks, the blacken center rail was not stainless.    I could be wrong and often. Mike CT.

Have fun, very few hobby-ist get-to, and complete the layout.  IMO.