03-24-2009, 03:49 AM
jim currie Wrote:i have over 30 pages of info i have looked up on the web will try to condense them down to a reasonable size of post to back up my findings .
While you are doing so, please learn a little about alloys. Representing the characteristics of an alloy, which nickel silver is, by its component elements is incorrect, to put it nicely. Confusing an alloy with its component elements will cause you to fail chemistry and engineering classes. Insisting everybody else is wrong, and only you are correctly interpreting the research is not a great way to make friends and influence enemies.
Nickel silver was engineered by Germans in a contest to imitate an imported Chinese metal. Nickel silver, as the name implies, is an ideal substrate for silver plating, and is also used without plating in inexpensive cutlery because of its resistance to visible tarnish (oxidation) to its silver color despite immersion in dishwasher solutions and temperatures.
And depending on where you live and the environment of your train room, oxidation and the yellow color were the bane of brass rail track. Unfortunately, the rate of oxidation of brass is very dependent on the specifics of the environment so experiences vary widely with brass rail. Some can use brass rail quite successfully; other will have nothing but continuous cleaning chores with brass rail.
Fred Wright