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Soviet Track |
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Soviet Track |
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About This Item
Every Stalin-era and Khrushchev-era train set produced by the Soviet Union in the 1950's and 1960's included 23 pieces of track (16 curved sections and 7 straight sections). The straight sections are 12 inches long. The curved sections are about 14 inches long and can form a circle approximately 52 inches in diameter. The center rail and one outside rail of every piece of Soviet track is insulated. This enables the block signals, lamp posts and other accessories to work automatically as the train passes through the layout. In addition, each section of track is numbered with a metal tag attached to the underside of one of the cross ties and some of the sections are equipped with a socket designed to accommodate the "banana plugs" from the wiring harness supplied with the set. This facilitates setting up the layout in accordance with the instruction manual provided. The gate crossing, bridge and turnouts are also numbered as part of the track sequence as shown in the following chart:
When assembled according to the instructions, the resulting layout should look like the following diagram:
| Photo of the layout diagram from the instruction manual |
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The quality of the Soviet track is very close to Lionel's O-gauge track. The track was first made in 1951 but it is unknown when production ceased. It is possible that it was produced as late as 1969.
| Photos of curved & straight sections of track |
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| ABOVE: Lionel 072 curve, Soviet curve, underside of Soviet curve |
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| ABOVE: Lionel O-gauge straight, top & bottom of Soviet straights |
Variations
The first Stalin-era sets came with solid rail stock which was replaced at some point by the hollow rail track familiar to most collectors and hobbyists. The later Stalin-era sets and all of the Khrushchev-era sets utilized the hollow rail track.
This page is an information document only; nothing on this web page is being offered for sale. This page and all of the other pages from Our Soviet Archives were developed to assist you in understanding the components of the train sets produced in the Soviet Union during the 1950's and 1960's. These sets are known today as "Stalin-era" sets and "Khrushchev-era" sets. We have used pictures from our old files and personal collection to construct this area of our website. If you are interested in buying something, please view our inventory listings to see what we currently have for sale.
This web page was last updated on September 11, 2005. If you have suggestions for improving this page or if you see any errors, please contact us.
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