Tubular Track Tutorial - Lionel, Marx, and More

It is truth or consequences time. Part of the circuit is running through this wire arm here. Very simple but effective animation for the layout. Hello again, this is Mike with Toy Train Tips and Tricks, and in this video we are talking about types of tubular track. So, types of tubular track on Toy Train Tips and Tricks. It's alliteration day. But anyway, I see on different internet forums and message boards and stuff, people who, you know, they open up the attic and they find Grandpa's train set, and they find track and they don't know what they have, and they have all kinds of questions about, well, what will run with what? What do I have? How do I know? What's the difference between and what is all that stuff about? So, let's take a look at the tubular track, which is the most likely track you're going to find in an older train set. Anything made prior to, really, the year 2000, thereabouts, anything before that, you're probably going to find tubular track, and it's still out there, it's still abundantly found, and some of it is still manufactured. And so, what is it? And let's just take a look at it. So, we're going to start with the granddaddy of them all, your regular O track. This is called regular O, or standard O, or sometimes O31. Basically, this is the dimensions of track that were first developed when Lionel first started making O gauge trains in 1917. By the way, we call it O gauge. Technically, it is zero gauge. Almost no one calls it that anymore. But, prior to the turn of the 20th century, European manufacturers that were making mechanical toys and more toys, got together and came up with a standard system of gauges. The distance between the outside rails is the gauge. And they came up with increasing numbers, 0, 1, 2, 3. The higher the number, the wider the gauge. So, this is zero gauge, or what we have been calling O gauge now for more than half a century. O gauge track, the gauge is one and a quarter inches from the outside rail to the outside rail, one and a quarter inches. It does not matter what scale of train is on it, if it's running on one and a quarter inch wide track, it is O gauge. So, whether it's Lionel Caneline Williams MTH, or Fisher Price Geotracks, those are all O gauge trains. Wide variety of scales, but O gauge. So, your original O gauge track, some of the main characteristics, the height from the base to the top of the rail is about 11 sixteenths of an inch. It's got a large diameter tube, if you look down. It basically, it is a snap of steel that is coiled over itself, makes a hollow tube in the middle, that's why we call it the tubular track. All metal construction. So, one and a quarter inches wide, 11 sixteenths inches tall, and a straight section is about 10 inches long in most cases. And it doesn't matter whether it's Lionel from the 1990s, or American Flyer from before World War II, if it is regular O, it will mate up. Doesn't matter the manufacturer, regular O, standard O, O31, whatever you want to call it, will mate. Now, where does that number 31 come from? Well, the number 31 comes from, in regular Lionel O, the standard size curve makes a 31 inch diameter circle. Other scales use radius when they're talking about curves, such as HO and scale, they talk about 36 inch radius or 18 inch radius. In O, we talk about diameter, so O31 makes a 31 inch diameter circle. Although American Flyer was where theirs were 40, but Lionel was the big one and they made 31 inch, so we talk about O31 today. American Flyer stopped making O gauge after World War II, so we talk about Lionel. So, that is your standard O. This stuff is still manufactured today, you can find it at Menards, I believe it's still in the Williams catalog as well. Plus, there's tons and tons and tons of old track that is still usable, findable at shows. Now, is 31 the only diameter curve you can find? No. In this type of track, as you see, curves come in a variety of radii, all the way up to O72, there might even be some tubular O96 out there. But, you know, the bigger the number, the bigger the curve. And so, this stuff will accommodate any of the post-war Lionel diesels, steam engines, with the exceptions, and pre-war with the exceptions of the true pre-war scale Hudson, the 700E, and the Union Pacific Streamliner from the pre-war period. Those both require a minimum of O72. Any other steamer diesel made from 1945 to about 1995 will run on O31, although they look nicer with a larger diameter. Now, so what's this O27 stuff? Well, starting in the early 1930s, maybe even the late 1920s, the Ives Manufacturing Company, another American toy train maker, came up with a less expensive line. And for that, they made smaller curves, for one thing, which make a 27-inch diameter curve at thus O27. The track is not as tall. Let's compare it side to side. We'll take this back apart. Let's compare the height. And you see the O27 is thinner. It's about eight sixteenths, seven sixteenths, something like that. It's smaller than the regular O, so it's a shorter rail, generally shorter in length, and the curves are tighter, 27-inch. So when the Ives Company didn't survive the Depression, at first they were jointly operated by Lionel and American Flyer. American Flyer eventually pulled out. Lionel took over everything, and from that transaction, Lionel got the mechanical reverse unit, the E unit, and they took over the O27 line. In Lionel, it became, ran under different names in the pre-war period, Winterlines or Lionel Jr., and in the post-war, they just called it O27. Now, where it gets confusing is O27 also is available in different curve radii. So you can have O27 profile track, but still be O72 curves, but it has the same height, same dimensions as the O27. Just like with the regular O, it doesn't matter the manufacturer, doesn't matter, oh no, that is Lionel, whether it's Lionel, whether it's Marks, here's Marks, whether it's K-Line, they all fit together, they all work. This has not been manufactured since about 2014 or so, but there's tons of it out on the secondary market, available at shows and on the internet. You shouldn't have any trouble finding O27 track. Now, O27 curves, because they're tighter, it's a little more restrictive. So, most O gauge from Lionel, Marks, matter of fact, all Marks will operate on O27. For Lionel, you still have most of your steamers and diesels of the post-war and MPC eras will work, with the exceptions of the Berkshires, the 284s, the NNWJ 484, too big, the large scale Hudson's, whether it's the 773 or the 700E, any of those, won't run on O27. And then among your diesels and electrics, the GG1, no-go. The Trainmaster, also no-go on that, but the Jeeps, the F-units, the U-boats, they're all fine on O27. Locomotives that are designed to run on O27 will run on O. The gauge is the same. The difference is in the tightness of the curve. There are some differences between turnouts and specialty sections between O and O27 and different manufacturers, but if you're talking about regular straights and curves, as long as you have the same profile track, they will all meet together. Here's Lionel meeting with Marks, and there are a few quirks with the ties are in a different place, but other than that, they work fine. So, O, O27, it's up to you. Whatever you got, stick with it. In a pinch, can you make O27 and O work together? You can. The O27 pins are smaller, so you want to put it in there, make an electrical connection and shim underneath the O27 to get it to the height of the O. And because it's, again, the same gauge, you can go from one to the other if you need to. It's probably best to stay with the same as much as possible. So, I hope that clears up questions a little bit. There is, you know, between what's O27, what's O, what's O42, what's O72. Basically, the O is your gauge, one and a quarter inches. There's O27 profile, which is thinner and shorter, and a little bit thinner, as far as the rail itself is concerned. So, it's a little less durable. Tighter curves for smaller spaces. So, you are a little bit limited on the equipment that will run on a true O27 curve, but you can, if you like the track profile, you can get wider radius O27 profile track. And that's what I use on my layout. Even though, other than turnouts, there are no O27 curves. They're all wider radius. I like the look, and you see I painted this one, I like the look of the smaller rail. It just, to me, looks a little more realistic, but you can do what you want to do. So, O, O27. Trains for this will run on this. Trains for this will run on this, in most cases. As long as the locomotive and cars are designed to handle the tighter curves, you are good. All right. So, I hope that cleared up some things, you know, for folks, because, you know, over more than a century and different manufacturers, terms can change. And for a newbie entering the hobby, it can be quite confusing. So, there we have the difference between O and O27. And if you like the video, like it, share it, tell your friends, tell your neighbors. And until then, keep the trains running, and we'll catch you next time on Toy Train Tips and Tricks.