I know most of this has more than likely been covered but in getting started with my own track laying there were a few things I noted.
I purchased a mix of track some Aristo 5’ straight and 10’, 11.5’, 15’, and 20’ diameter curves. USA 10’ diameter curves. AML 6’ straight. All brass.
This all went together, but with a few notible incongruities.
Aristo and USA seem to be the same in that the rails, rail joiners, and screws all seem to be the exact same thing and are interchangeable, but whereas the Aristo rail joiners lined up with the predrilled holes for the screws the USA predrilled holes were off by a hair.In order to connect the USA track I had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to crimp the bottom web of each rail joiner so the holes lined up with the screws. Almost as if the tracks were made one place and the rail joiners someplace else using close enough specs.
AML uses a differant type rail joiner. Theirs just slides on and uses pressure to keep in place. This is fine on joining their track to itself, but when joining to Aristo or USA the AML rail joiners are a little to large for the other brands and have to be crimped on the other rail, or the other companys’ rail joiner has to be spread out just a hair to go on the AML track. This also causes an alignment issue as the AML track is a hair wider and taller than the other two.Someone measured this sometime ago and it seems this hair is a couple thousandths of an inch. In any case you need to kind of nudge the rail joiner up a little on the one side of the joint to bring the Aristo/USA rail up even with the AML rail. And, you need to nudge the AML side out a hair to keep a smooth flow on the inside top edge of your rail.
Since I chose to solder or jumper my joints I feel the track will keep it’s corrected position, but for those who choose to just connect their track these areas may be a constant source of maintenance.
All said and done I will continue to buy Aristo and AML track as needed but will shy away from USA track.