Which scale do I have?

[amcneece]

Ok, so I just found my old train in the attic. I wanted to set it up for the kids, but I need some track. I have none of the packaging. How do I determine which scale I have? As near as I can recall I got it for Christmas sometime in the very early 80's. It's a red and silver Santa Fe. Any help would be greatly appreciated. It hasn't been run in at least 25 years, but it seems to work.

[ABC]

If it is about 1.5" wide, 2" tall, and 7" long it is HO scale.
If the dimensions are 3" wide, 3" tall, and 12" long it is O scale. If it has 3 drive wheels it is probably Lionel, if it has 2, it is 2 rail O gauge.
If the dimensions are about 2/3" wide, 3/4" tall, and 3" long it is N scale.
If it is about 5" wide, 5" tall, 14" long, it is G scale.
If the dimensions are in between the HO and O scale dimensions...it is S scale.
If the dimensions are smaller than the N scale dimensions it is  Z scale.
If the dimensions are larger than the G scale dimensions it is some other type of large scale.

[SteamGene]

Red and silver Santa Fe means that it's a diesel, probably a passenger one.  Now -
How long is the engine?
Are the cab windows in the front over a streamlined nose?
It has two sets of trucks, one in the front, one in the back.  How many wheels are in each truck?  While looking at the wheels - how far apart are they?
Gene

[amcneece]

Looks like it is HO scale. It measures about what you mentioned. I wouldn't consider the nose too terribly streamlined. How is the quality on these trains from this era? Like I say, it's pretty near 30 years old and seems to work, although I think my track is too old and tarnished for it to get a real good connection. Me and my dad had a lot of fun with this thing though. We built a table out of some plywood with some astroturf covering it and set it up with his old Aurora slotcar set with some buildings and trees. I had thought it was long gone but my mom found it when she was cleaning out the storage room, along with most of the slotcar set. I don't have enough track for it either. What does the train track run at toy stores(if you can still buy it there)?

[NarrowMinded]

The great thing about it being ho is you can get some new style "EZ" track
Your old track can be cleaned with erasers or very fine sand paper if its really bad just go for the EZ track if you are just looking to set it up on the floor and run it around a little.

NM

[ABC]

About $1 for a 9 inch piece of nickel silver track straight or curve. About $12 for a nickel silver switch/turnout.
If you can make out a name on it somewhere, like Rivarossi, Mantua, Life-Like, Athearn, Bachmann, Varney, or where it was made...then I can tell you how it might run. But if it is that old it either is a decent runner or a terrible runner...there wasn't very many that ran really great, nor was there anything inbetween okay and bad.

[amcneece]

It's definitely a Bachmann, made in Hong Kong, I guess. It says Bachmann Hong Kong on the bottom. It's been stored in a suitcase since the last I played with it. The locomotive and the cars are in remarkably good shape(especially considering what my GI Joes and Star Wars figures looked like when I got rid of them). One of the horns is broken off the engine and there's a few small scratches, but that's it. I remember cleaning the track on my slotcar set with sandpaper but not the train track. I'll give that a go but I've got to buy new track anyway because I don't have enough curved pieces to do anything with. Is the new track still compatible with the old track and those little connectors? And can you still get the little connectors?

[ABC]

Your engine is more than likely junk (no offense Bachmann) and will probably run poorly new track or not, because Bachmann engines were more or less cheap toys back then, but nowadays they have a good product (especially for the money).
Also don't use sandpaper on the track because it can actually exacerbate the problem and after a while everything will run worse.

[SteamGene]

Do NOT use sandpaper to clean track.  With the amount you have, a piece of cloth and rubbing alchohol will work just fine.  An artist eraser will also work.  But not sandpaper!  BTW, cleaning the wheels is also a good idea.  Q-tip and alchohol works just fine for that.  Clean the car wheels, too.
You might want to look at Trainworld or Standard Hobby Supply for new/more track.
Gene

[NarrowMinded]

I use 600 or finer sand paper on old track then wipe it with a cloth has never caused me a problem in 40+ years of running all scales, 600+ sand paper removes the little pits caused by corrosion, common track cleaning eraser found at railroad shops have fine grit embedded in them. so it can't be all that bad. Maybe I should have been specific with the grit but I assume people have common sense here

NM

[ABC]

You should never assume anything, because sometimes people don't always understand things that may seem simple to you. For example someone may have used any old sand paper to clean their track and ruined it all. And I still contend that it exacerbates the problem more so than using a bright-boy eraser.

[jettrainfan]

...a piece of cloth and rubbing alchohol...

THANK YOU! I forgot what that was. It beaten the track eraser and i forgot what it was! sorry for going off subject.

[NarrowMinded]

600 grit polishes the track the erasers I have leave it with a brushed sanded look, I say this try a test peice of track then decide.

NM

[rich1998]

sometimes i have use #2000 grit paper. no scratches. Also good for finishing with plastic filler on locos and cars.
lex

[Jim Banner]

Like NarrowMinded, I use 600 grit wet and dry paper on my rails.  I usually use it wet with Varsol.  It removes glue, corrosion, and pitting caused by wheel arcing.  Then to prevent further corrosion and arcing, I use an extremely thin coating of light weight conductive oil such as Labelle 103 from the hobby shop.

Yes, 600 grit removes a bit of metal, enough to see a trace of colour on the paper.  Without removing metal, there is no way of removing the pitting.  However, after 40 years, I still haven't removed enough metal to measure the loss with a micrometer.  Perhaps that is because I clean my rails only about every 5 years.  Or perhaps it is because the oil allows enough wheel slip to keep the rails and wheels polished to a mirror shine while suppressing that arcing which would quickly take that shine away.

However, I have also seen the results of using sandpaper, grade unspecified, but certainly coarser than 600 grit.  And I have to echo Steam Gene - do  not use sandpaper to clean track!