Back on old tracks

In the Museé du Rail in Dinan I found some old 042 radius pre-war tracks of Hornby-Meccano, that felt correctly compatible with Lionel pre-war high rails. And yes they are. I just needed to clean and place the pins different. These Hornby-Meccano rails have two pins upward and one downwards. So, I removed most of the pins, re-inserted them in the right direction and made them full compatible with my old Lionel tracks. The old Lionel tracks had been stored in a box since 1994, so it was time for a good thorough wash. That took me half a day. Afterwards all the tracks handled nicely. I laid a small oval and measured the resistance between the inner rail and the outer rail, it was more than 1800 kOhm, so although not perfect, still sufficient. These tracks date from the 30's and they have that special tin-plate feeling. The sound of a train passing on these tracks, is just fine for me.

Pre-war Lionel and Hornby Meccano rails do couple nicely

These old tracks run fine