I first wrote this track story in 1998,
and it was published in the AmBritGlyn
newsletter, then posted on the Old Weird
Herald web site. There were some areas
that needed more information, and people
began to send in what they knew to fill in the gaps.
At some point in 1999, I started a revision
of the article, incorporating these changes.
When it was just about done, a computer
meltdown wiped it all out, and naturally I hadn't made a backup...
Somewhat discouraged, I put the project
ont he back burner until now. As it turns out,
I 've accumulated even more information,
so this version is way better than the one I did in 1999.
And this time, I have a backup!
Revised May 2003 - Some Track Section links
(noted with ***),
now also show a photo of the section, courtesy
of Roger Schmitt
| The first issue of Strombecker's
Inside Track magazine (January 1965), which replaced the original Table
Top Topics, had a full page
ad which listed the evolution of Strombecker track up to that time.The first sets in 1959 used brass contact strips, which were glued in place. Apparently, there were some problems, both with conductivity, and corrosion, which led to the 1961 modification which replaced the brass with aluminum. |
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The 1961 track which I have looked at has a
rather smooth surface, which Strombecker referred to as a
"sandblasted surface". On the underside the
following information was molded in: "Strombecker Road
Racing, Dowst Mfg. Co, Chicago, Ill, Pat's
Applied For". One of the unique features of this track is that the
inside radius of the curves had a lip molded
into them - possibly to try to keep the cars from fishtailing off
the track. While I haven't seen the brass
contact strip track, Eduardo Casas-Alvero confirms that it does
have this inner lip also. Another advertised
"improvement" for the aluminum strip track was the raised dimple
in the contact portion, for improved electrical
conductivity.
I got my first Strombecker set for Christmas
1961, so I'm assuming this was 1962 style track.
I am almost certain that it did not have the
inner lip on the curves. In 1963, there was another
"improvement": the track surface was given
a textured finish. No other claims were made.
This was still aluminum rail.
The fourth style of Strombecker track came
out the following year, sometime in 1964. This was the big
one: the aluminum was replaced by tin plated
steel, and these strips were now staked in place from the
underside of the track, rather than being
glued. There was now a terminal section of track included in sets
that had a place on the edge where you could
plug in the spade connectors of the controllers -
with the glued type of track, you slid these
spades under the conductor, where it wrapped around the end of the track.
This version of steel conductor track also
has a dimple at the connection point.
The underside of the sections simple say:
Strombecker Corporation, Made in USA.
In 1966, the fifth style track was released.
This appears to be a minor cost reduction of the 1964 version:
The dimple on the connection point was eliminated.
On the underside of the straights and curves was:
(copyright) Strombecker Corporation, Made
in USA. However, a Lane Change section (which required
some hand soldering of wiring) was marked
Made in Japan, and the single lane sections of the Over/ Under
or Monza Split was made in Hong Kong.
Judging by a piece of Bachmann track I have
which is identical to the 1966 Strombecker, (Bachmann
bought the Strombecker molds when Strombecker
finally folded), that was the final configuration of the original
style of track.
Several more versions of track exist. Right
from the beginning, Strombecker always touted that
it's track was wide enough for both 1/32 and
1/24 cars, but always advertised it as 1/32 track. A 1967 set
booklet lists separate numbers for 1/24 scale
straights, curves and a Monza wall.
The real interesting story
is of the 3 lane track. When I wrote the first article, I couldn't find
anything that
proved that it was ever produced. Since then,
I've had a lot of feedback that helped me produce this webpage
on the 3 lane
track sets.
After Strombecker was sold to a company in
Canada in 1968, they continued to sell the original track sections,
but as supplies ran down, they started buying
track from a company in Hong Kong. This was originally lighter gray,
and used a different "connection" than the
original track.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that
there was also track molded in white plastic for the "Ski-Bob"
set,
released when Strombecker was Canadian owned.
However, I haven't found any literature that would indicate
that these section were ever sold separately.
There is also a later black
track with a different "connection", again from the later Canadian
era.
And I've heard that there was another style
gray track that was different dimensions than the first!
From the photos (obviously from eBay), the
white and black styles are not interchangable with each other
or the original style track.
Neil Anderson reports that he acquired some
different numbered sections from eBay:
XL FLAT CURVE 30463 and a XL MONZA WALL 30465
I have no idea what these actually are, but
my guess is that the 30xxx is a tooling number
on the underside of the track, and not the
actual catalog number.
If anyone has additional information or corrections, please let me know.
1959-60:
Brass Contact strips
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(Outside Curve) |
1961:
Aluminum contact strips, glued in place, w/
dimple at contact point.
Smooth track surface. Curve had raised lip
on inner radius.
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1962:
Aluminum contact strips
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(4 Lane Outer, 2 per standard curve) |
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1963:
Aluminum contact strips.
New textured track surface. Same Part Numbers
as 1962 plus:
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1964:
New Tin-Plated Steel Contact Strips
which are an upside-down "U" shape,
which go down through the track, and are staked
from underneath. Dimple
at contact point. Textured track surface.
No inner lip on standard curves.
Same Part Numbers as 1963 plus:
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1965:
3 Lane Track Set Shown in Inside Track Magazine,
as contest prizes.
No individual 3-Lane track section part numbers
known.
Same part Numbers as 1964 plus:
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(Straight with dial counter on each side) |
1966:
Steel Strips - no dimple on contact area.
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(4 Lane Outer, 2 per standard curve) |
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Jump Track w/ Pond (color picture) |
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9305 |
Home Set Controller (for use with No. 9265 Start Track) |
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(Straight with dial counter on each side) |
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1967: Same as 1966 EXCEPT: The following were renumbered
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(2 per standard inner curve) |
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(Pair of 6" High Humps, that need a Std Straight in between) |
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1968: Reduced Selection of Track
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(Single Lane Track) |
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(Slanted 60 Deg to Straight) |
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( 2 of each) |
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(Straight w/ dial on each side) |
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1969 or 70 ?????
Strombecker now Canadian Owned
Same as 1968 EXCEPT:
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(Old number added to list) |
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(No Diverging Transitions) |
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(Different Track from 9265) |
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(Old # added to list) |
1973(?)+
Canadian Owned
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Anyone have a good original copy of a catalog
that shows these 1973
and later year track sections?
If so, I'd like to get a good scan of the pages, or a very good copy so I can scan it.
Thanks!
**********
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