3-Rail Traditional Trains | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (2024)

FAQs

Why do Lionel trains run on a 3 rail track? ›

Early toy trains used two metal rail tracks like most real trains. However, manufacturers quickly found that using a center rail for electric power and the two outer rails for common or ground made electrical contact much more reliable and less prone to short circuits.

The O Gauge rails are taller than the O-27 rails causing the train to sit higher off of the layout surface. Generally, this difference will have no impact on the operation of any O Gauge train. Thank you for your feedback! We failed to record your vote.

Lionel's popular Ready-to-Run sets are Traditional O-Gauge, and contain everything a customer needs to run their train in minutes – train set, oval of track, and, transformer.

In 1969, the company sold their model train lines to General Mills. It continued to operate until 1993 as a holding company for their toy stores. In 2006, Lionel's electric train became the first electric toy inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. The model trains are still in production as Lionel, LLC.

2-7/8-inch gauge: Joshua Lionel Cowen's first train, The Electric Express, ran on 2-7/8-inch track. Lionel made trains in this gauge between 1901 and 1905. OO gauge: Lionel OO gauge is 1:76 scale and very close in size to HO. It was manufactured by Lionel between 1938 and 1942.

A: Yes. At one time Lionel made special adapter pins. Now most people force O gauge pins into a piece of 027 track, and add a 1/4” spacer under the 027 track to bring it up to the same height of the O gauge track.

In the last 20 years or so, most of the motors for both Lionel and MTH, as well as AtlasO, Weaver, 3rd Rail, and other manufacturers of 0 Gauge 3 rail trains, use DC motors. There is a rectifier that converts the AC power in the track to DC in the locomotive.

The main difference between double and triple rail fencing is simply the number of rails. Most commonly, the post of the triple rail will also be taller than the double rail's post. This is simply to fit the third rail. The last, somewhat slight difference is in how they are used.

A: Lionel prewar O gauge will run just fine on FasTrack. Lionel's prewar Standard Gauge is too large. If you are operating Standard Gauge trains, MTH Trains has a FasTrack look alike in Standard Gauge.

It's An O Scale Thing

If you're working with 3-rail model trains, you're likely building with O scale or O gauge trains. This is because larger trains needed to run on three rails in the early days of model railroading.

Do all Lionel trains use the same track? ›

Most Lionel trains run on two similar, related track gauges: O gauge and O-27 gauge. What's the Difference? Curves in O-27 gauge are tighter than in O gauge. That means that some of the very longest O gauge cars and locomotives are too long to turn the tight corners of O-27 gauge layout.