I obtained a few pieces of the original AFX tab track recently and discovered something I found odd.

Until now, the hundreds of pieces of AFX tab track I have dealt with had a common feature on the underside of the track. The tabs have a hollow cavity and these cavities continue past the track end into the interior about 1/4".

These recently accquired pieces are different. The hollow cavity of the tab stops at the end of track edge. The tab cavity is about half as long.

But what is really odd is that if you measure the two variations both are equal in length extreme tab end to extreme tab end. But if you measure the track surface end to end these "half cavity tab" pieces are about 1/16 - 1/32 of an inch shorter!

Once again, I have never seen such pieces. There is no date under the track as well and they do not fit tightly. Could these have possibly been a final attempt by Aurora to lessen stress on the track tabs and end the chronic broken tabs we all know so well?

Any insight appreciated.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama

Are you sure you don't have some TycoPro track mixed in?

TycoPro:

http://www.slotcar.info/documents/schienen/mm2tycopro.jpg

Original AFX:

http://jaghobbies.com/images/slotcars/afx.jpg

-Scott

Tyco-Pro usually had it's name stamped into the underside of the track Scott:thumbsup:

Regarding TYCO.....the track is good ole AFX. Top side of this "odd" track looks exaclty like any other 15" AFX Straight.

But turn the track upside down and there are subtle differences:

1) No date is stamped on the bottom
2) Hollow cavity in tabs half as long
3) Bottoms of slot and rails squared not rounded.

What really got my attention was the feel of these track pieces. They just felt weird. When I dropped one, the rails rattled. This is what got me noticing that these were not your typical AFX track pieces.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama

Got a pic?

Didn't some AFX stuff come out of Mexico?

Your "new" pieces are ones that were produced in Singapore. All the "normal" track you have (with the long hollow cavity and rounded slot and rail bottoms) seem to have been "Made in America" or "Made in American and Assembled in Mexico". My guess would be that the Singapore pieces where post-Aurora produced.

Some guys with a better knowledge of the history of AFX between the Aurora years and the Tomy years may know more about this.

Thanks for the information. The track pieces do indeed say "made in Singapore."

I am very curious about when and why the design was changed.

What I don't like about that these pieces is when you connect two together the gap between the tracks is very noticable compared to the "regular" AFX tracks.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama