Real Rails for Lego Trains???

[Super]

Are these actual rails that have to be assembled for a Lego train or maybe custom made?

Those look like the old style blue rails that I remember having as a kid. It’s just the rails themselves and you use flat 2x8 stud pieces for the ties. The rails have a slight tread on the top surface.

Wait, so does this mean that Nigel no longer likes “The Trains From Japan”? Darn, my kids and I loved that song when they were younger!

[Super]

So those blue rails are vintage and not available any more?

      

Yes, those are early LEGO rails. Originally they were used for push trains, then battery operated, and eventually in the late 60s they introduced 12 volt power rails you could lay down between the two normal rails, meaning they only needed to produce new switches and crossings and you could buy the power rails and motor adaptor to upgrade existing trains. Battery powered push trains still coexisted with the transformer driven (and more serious, you could get lights, automatic switches, and more model railway type accessories you wouldn't normally get with a toy) trains up into the 80s when the tracks were redesigned to grey.


(Pic from a BrickTsar thumbnail, flipped to be in chronological order)

In the 90s the power rails were built into the normal side rails, and then everything went battery powered all plastic rails again in the 2000s with IR and PowerFunctions. The gauges and dimensions have remained the same, and I think if you put 12 volt 70s/80s power pickups between 90s 9 volt rails, you could run any LEGO train from the 60s to present, push along, battery powered, or any of the track pickup systems on the same layout.

Current availability is limited to the second hand market, unfortunately

[Super]

Thanks Dr Chris and Duck

Very interesting, I like those original blue rails.