Can I get anything to run on the Worst Model Railway Track ever? Lawrie Goes a Model Loco Episode 4

Safety glasses Lawrie! I've had wire brush bristles fly off and get stuck in my hands and arms. You don't want one sticking in an eyeball :P Anyway, sorry to see that the track didn't end up working out :(

The old triang loco's had "magnehesion", so with steel track they had the weight of the loco and extra magnets to help give traction. Some also had serrated wheels which gave some loco's a distinctive hum as they went round the track. That bad spot of track is a bad fishplate, the track is fairly high resistance and there's a break in the circuit so power is going the long way round to the loco, hence why it slows and suddenly speeds up as it passes the bad fishplate

I can highly recommend „cleaning solvent” in German it is called Reinigungsbenzin, put some on a handkerchief or an alike tissue made from smooth fabric and clean the track surface. Using sandpaper will destroy the surface of the rails and allow dirt to settle more easy next time. Enjoy your trains mate!

This series is a great little thing to watch, a lot more interesting than some modern reviews of model trains!

Electricity in the rails? Man, that's some futuristic sh*t right there. Mine just winds up with a key.

A little tip: Märklin/Trix C-Track is the best modelrailtrack in my opinion, cause it has finished basalt for the the rails and has a good quallity of the materials. It also has a really good topography on which you can run a loco or a train, without a worry about derailment. Even the switches of any kind is perfect and trains can run over them without of swerve in it.

Brings back so many memories. Mum insisted it was put away in its box at bed time Dad insisted it needed to be left in situ. Mum always won! Next time it was used it needed cleaning and even the fishplates were sanded with Mum's emeryboard it all took ages for about half an hour of running time. Loved it!!

When I recovered my Märklin-tracks from the basement they wouldn't work either, I used cleaning alcohol and 1000-grid sandpaper. Worked just fine afterwards

Each joint is a relatively high resistance so there will be a voltage drop at the furthest point from the feed.

Back in the 1980s, I got a tea-chest full of Tri-ang trains that had a good (?) mix of Series 2, 3 and Super 4 track and the usual assortment of locos (Jinty, Princess, Dock Shunter etc), rollingstock and accessories. The catch? It had been submerged in a flooded shed. So most of the rails had rusted and the loco mechanisms had also rusted solid. But a much younger me just saw this as a challenge. Believe it or not, I did get it all running again and cleaned off most of the rust. No, it never lasted long before the rails, wheels and pick-ups all had to be cleaned yet again. I later got a box of Triang with more Series 2 and 3 track, that had NOT rusted and was still in near new condition. Once the rails were clean AND the insides of the rail joiners cleaned, the trains ran quite well on it. When I say "quite well", I mean in comparison to the previous track. It was still poor compared to any modern nickel-silver track. I've also seen a Tri-ang exhibition layout (in Australia) where trains seemed to be running on old Tri-ang track without issue. So like most older mechanical things, if they're looked after by those that know just what is needed to keep them happy, they can perform well.

Triang Hornby (Rovex Scale Models) track evolution: Rovex Series 0 track. (Mono-directional brass code 250 railed with no fishplates. Plastic moulded ballast. Only straights & curves). Triang Series 1 track. (Mono-directional code 250 steel railed with no fishplates. Plastic moulded ballast. Only straights & curves). Triang Series 2 track. (Universal / Standard track. Bi-directional with fishplates. Plastic moulded ballast. Converter tracks for series 0 & 1 track). Triang Series 3 track. (Universal / Standard track without the plastic ballast moulding). Triang Super 4 track. (Interlocking sleepers at joints. Correct prototypical scale UK sleeper spacing but still with code 250 rail height). Triang Series 5 track. (Never produced version of Super 4 track with code 100 rail height). Triang System 6 track. (Interlocking sleepers at joints. Incorrect out of scale sleeper spacing for continental HO scale models). Hornby Series 7 track. (The current not to scale sleeper size & spacing track system. Does not have interlocking sleepers at joints. Limited clip fit slots). I have examples of all these tracks systems. Enough to build oval circuits. Technically I could built a line that starts with Series 0 track (1950) and ends with Series 7 track (2020). Series 0 & Series 1 track is the worst ever made as the original R.50 Princess with plunger pick ups won't run on it because they catch the fishplateless rail joints. Conversely a 2019 Hornby 0-4-0ST runs just fine on it, as does a Dapol L&Y Pug, any Triang 0-6-0 and few other modern diesels.

i love how the uk calls them rubbers im was like what does he need a condom for lmao

Thanks for the upload. Ive still got a lot of 'grey' track and it has it's issues but you need to clean the inside of the fishplates and wheels of the loco's. One way i learnt from a model club i used to belong to was gluing sheets of 'wet n dry' sandpaper (600 grade), to wood sheets and cutting it up into small rectangles. One of the other comments was spot on, the older controllers did put out more power that the older loco's needed... the last suggestion before junking the track is to add a few other power clips using the other de-couplers to alleviate and power loss. Thanks again and good luck!

It's refreshing seeing British 00 Gauge stuff when I grew up on American 0 Gauge. It was passed down from father to son, I have kits that where given to my grandfather when he was a kid, quite a lot has changed.

Literally watched a video that is the exact problem I always have with track power and why I would never use track power again yet I watched the whole video. Thanks Laurie. :-D

50yrs ago I had a large Märklin layout. Then I had to join the airforce, and my little brother took it all out into a sandpile in the garden ... At least he had a good time for a couple of hours.

I had the Princess Elizabeth set with 'blood and custard' coaches. I can remember being dragged away from it to watch the queen's coronation (1953 ?). It worked for a while then the loco would stop at the end of the power track....much later, I had one of the first Tri-ang TT layouts with a little Jinty that went like hell ! I think TT came out at about the same time as Scalextric slot racing and this was probably it's death knell.

I never thought I would see that track again, the aggravation of having to push a stalled engine to a good bit of track every 10 seconds used to drive me mad.

In terms of regularly requiring re-cleaning, I have seen that there are cars out there you can attach to your loco with a track rubber hidden in them, so your trains are cleaning the track regularly as they drive around. Not sure how effective they are, but they might at least keep the edge of it and stop you have to manual clean every 10 minutes.

I found this really interesting. I think it was even moreso than any of the far more expensine utube layouts. The fact you were working with something out of the 50's that i never knew existed & those old engines & cars was rivetting!!! Got more enjoyment watching this-youre repeated attempts to get it going & being years old spelt out real enjoyment Brilliant :)