Were the boys from two weeks ago upset because they were expecting a big, exciting Lego set, and got a bunch of tracks instead?

Boy. If those kids are still AFOLs, man, the disappointment.

I had that set. I spent some money train tracks when I was a kid. They get very fragile over time. And once they are broken I throw them away. Not to many pieces left in my old lego box.

I don’t have this particular set, but I have drawers of these parts. They are great for bridges, trusses and other structural uses as well. Unlike the grey era, these blues used regular plates as ties, too.

I wonder what is the reason of the little notches at the end of each rails? (the notches do not seems to be straight either (slight incline)??

@HOBBES:
I’m wondering if that notch fits around the corner of an adjacent plate or brick if you pivot the track in that direction. Given the length and cross section, they may have been prone to stress fractures and breaking if you torque them over and the adjacent part acts as a fulcrum.

@HOBBES said:
"I wonder what is the reason of the little notches at the end of each rails? (the notches do not seems to be straight either (slight incline)??"

The notches were there to help you line the track up straight, as the end of the notch lined up with the edge of the 2 x 8 plate used as the tie.

When I was down in the basement vault last month during the Inside Tour, I tried finding the old 15x sets, but either they were not there, or my eyes just missed them with all the other sets piled in there.

@yo_dabrick:
Do you mean to show you how much of the end of the rail to overlap the plate with, or to adjust the rail to the correct angle? I could see the former, but even if the intent was the latter, functionally it’s not necessary.

@PurpleDave:
The latter. The curved pieces also had the notch. Made a little more sense when you butted ends of two rails together on a 2 x 8, but the notch was not that deep, so still good chance the rails could be out of whack when you laid down a whole bunch (yes I still have all mine from back in the 4.5V days)

You could of course get the tracks straight and parallel by adding an additional 2x8 sleeper midway - indeed the subsequent grey track (which used a more secure/easily broken clip system) used this. Using a mid-sleeper on blue track was generally just a good idea for support anyway.

My understanding of the end notches was to allow for uneven floors, the notch is slightly sloped so if the floor is high on a connection the sleeper/plate can stay level and the following track can drop again without the connection being compromised.

@yo_dabrick said:
" @HOBBES said:
"I wonder what is the reason of the little notches at the end of each rails? (the notches do not seems to be straight either (slight incline)??"

The notches were there to help you line the track up straight, as the end of the notch lined up with the edge of the 2 x 8 plate used as the tie.
"
Yes, and the angle of the notch (along with the slight angle of the end of the rail) allowed tolerance for the track to go from flat to inclined. e.g. at the top and bottom of the slope to a viaduct (113-2)

I found a set of these in a bargain bin at my local sadly long gone toyshop in the early 1980's. It had been found in the back of a storeroom, forgotten and battered after a clear out.

I used the rails to extend my classic space command centre monorail. Still got a few of the rails today.

The notches are there for slivht inclines, yes, not for lining up the pieces. If you put one on and incline, it doesn't "pop off" the plate, but it will be at an even height to the next rail piece, giving a smooth ride.

@WizardOfOss said:
"I bet those notches were to compensate for the curvature of the earth, in case you made a really, really long straight track. ."

yes, and you only need - roughly calculated - 640.000.000 to make a circle track around the aequator... (8 rails for a meter)

I am sure I have a couple of this set. But how many. I have no idea.

@Bart_66 said:
"I had that set. I spent some money train tracks when I was a kid. They get very fragile over time. And once they are broken I throw them away. Not to many pieces left in my old lego box."

I have a bunch of this track from the 70s and none of it has broken, despite it being brittle blue.

track, Track, TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@marengho said:
"yes, and you only need - roughly calculated - 640.000.000 to make a circle track around the aequator... (8 rails for a meter)"
So considering the number of these sets we all together have here at Brickset, we only need to find 39,999,554 more of these.....that sounds like a challenge :-)

Say what you want about blue tracks, but the amount of straight and curved options were more balanced. Same with road plates. Now you either get only straight or only curved options for a few years. Road plates right now don't even have curves.

@VintageDude said:
"About the quality of the blue tracks:
I second @SimonSpace70s
None of mine are broken either, but it depends
on the previous owner´s handling.
I had to sort broken blue tracks out from some of my purchases,
but the broken ones are clearly shown in the pictures so it´s
no surprise when you buy them."
Same here. Out of around 600 pieces of track I've not had any break. The worst I've got is a few with tooth marks in them, but that's probably not Lego's fault!

I remember getting 159 for Christmas, which had the bonus of the cross-over with the same number of straight tracks making this set less desirable. No problems with breaking, the only problem with these tracks is the clutch power is not very strong, probably those inclines again, so they kept coming lose from the white sleepers which have all gone yellow, but easily replaced. Also used at the time to stand vertically and build train bridges etc as too young for Technic bricks and there weren't any long thin 16 bricks or plates at the time.

Daily Bluegle pieces!

The notches were there for letting the rails climb a slope. I used these things a lot as a kid. For the main yard of my drakar, for the oars on a Roman galley, for strengthening the wings of my HUGE spaceship, you name it.

Only even had a pair of these type of rail from set 910, though I had friend that a swack of this type of rails as well as the curves...think he even had the 'crossover', that tic-tac-toe grid-track; that I wish TLG would modern version of...

@mkrey doesn't have a one track mind; he has a THREE-TRACK MIND...just always remember what they say about 'the third rail' :D.

@brick_r:
They did a “+” cross for both 9v and RC/PF/PU, but they’re supposedly really bad for derailing trains. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, and then they’re pretty great.

@PurpleDave said:
" @brick_r :
They did a “+” cross for both 9v and RC/PF/PU, but they’re supposedly really bad for derailing trains. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, and then they’re pretty great."

They did one for PF?!? I thought they said they were, but after the disaster known as flex tracks, it was never released.

EDIT: Nothing on Bricklink about it... Where did you see this?

Also, I've seen a bridge (not mine) made out of these tracks on rebrickable:
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-101350/Galaxy%2012%20Imports/blue-steel-train-bridge/details

@Murdoch17:
Well, I’d thought they did one for RC (and PF/PU use the same track), but I’m not seeing a listing for it on Bricklink. I remember discussing an RC crossing years ago, probably around the time The LEGO Company thumbed their noses at 9v fans when they released the long-desired double-crossover for RC trains, but I can’t recall anything about what was discussed.