Hornby track info

[Rana Temporia]

One of the topics that comes up on here regularly is around second hand track. Track is one of the few things I won’t buy secondhand unless I can have a good look at it and it’s in good condition otherwise it is just money down the drain. Due to the heavy rain I have had to abandon my plans for tonight so I sorting through my junk boxes and came across some track which I didn’t enen know I had anymore!

This first picture shows the earliest of the system 6 track which led to the current track range. The rails are steel, the end sleepers interlock and the fishplates are short. Also, for anyone with older stock, the rail chairs on the sleepers are too high and anything with large flanges bounces along giving poor running. personally i think this type of track is fit only for recycling or making scenery with. I would never use it!

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This track was replaced by something that most people will recognise and very similar to what is available today, in fact all the major UK manufacturers (and continental names under the Hornby branding) now use this type of track to the same geometry. This piece of track is still steel but otherwise is very similar to current production which is nickel-silver. Most of my old stock runs perfectly well on this type of track and being steel, locos with magnadhesion work well on it. Often says ‘Made in Austria‘ on the underneath.

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This piece of track is as found and would need a clean before use but otherwise isn’t in that poor a condition and could probably be used in a siding with new fishplates added. 

Very similar track was made by Peco I believe for Airfix and Palitoy (Mainline). The Airfix track had black sleepers and was fully compatiable while the Mainline track had brown sleepers and a much finer rail section which looked better but you couldn’t run any older stock on it. 

Later Lima track was to the same geometry but I am unsure if they made their own. Peco Settrack under their own brand was also fully compatiable and had small radius curved points that you could go between first and second radius with. I think the Peco track was nickel silver? It had brown sleepers and I exchanged all my Hornby points for Peco as they were much better!

So, if buying second hand track beware and make sure that you are buying something that will work with your rolling stock And is in good enough condition to use otherwise it might just be one stop away from the bin. In this case new is probably better every time!

[RDS]

I agree.  I finished up disposing of all the track I had bought secondhand, mainly because at the time I was not aware of the need to avoid steel.

[LCDR]

The first picture looks very Super 4 track with the rail section that could match Series 3 and 'Universal' track, although the half notched end sleeper was a bit of a nuisance! The rail appears to be  steel and a heavier section than is used nowadays. and the fishplates are remarkably similar to Series 3 fishplates.

 

I am curious about the assertion that deeper flanges strike the chairs. With a deeper rail section this ought not to happen.

[Rana Temporia]

The first picture is definitely the first version of system 6 track with modern rail section and will sort of join to modern track. It used the same geometry as super 4 but with better scale rails which unfortunately were held in very high chairs meaning that the clearance for flanges was very limited unlike the same rail section in PECO code 100. Playcraft (Jouef) had been using the same code of track but with different geometry since the 60s or possibly even the 50s and all my old stock runs well on their track. The oldest is brass, the later is steel. A shame the first Hornby ‘scale’ track was so poorly designed. 

All main makes of 00 sectional track in the UK are descended from the Super 4 geometry, and now Hornby sell their track in Europe so are their ranges. 

[Rana Temporia]

I am home now so can post some more pictures. The main obvious difference between this track and all previous Tri-ang track other than the rail section is the fishplate is on the opposite side. Here is a pic showing the difference between the original and a more modern track section.

 /media/tinymce_upload/cb78f018562f84ff8b356bedccc3fe5f.jpgNote the original one on the left has rail chairs that go much higher up the rails causing the bouncing I referred to yet the rails sections are identical. 

Also for interest is a comparison with a section of Playcraft 1960s track. It is the one in front. An almost identical rail section. /media/tinymce_upload/c961b10007a6af9718b817af13b9cbfd.jpg

[Ruffnut Thorston]

The 4th Edition of the Hornby Railways Track Plans book from 1976, on the back cover, explains the problem that Hornby were apparently having with making enough track to satisfy demand, and the difference between the Margate made and Austrian made track sections...

 

Do it was around 1976 that the Austrian made (Roco) track came in.