Zitat von Caltrain
[...]did the track details (geometry and profile) change so much that a modern loco would not be able to handle 1950s track... or 1930s?
The geometry changed a bit but not as much to cause any serious trouble. I tried it with my own M-Gleis 3600/3900 layout from around 1955 and a couple of modern locos: BR 218, BR 44, V 200, even a GG-1 (although she looks rather stupid in 36cm-curves 
). Very smooth, no problem whatsoever. You can even operate a layout built from almost 80 year old tracks with a digital station and run an ICE3 on it if you so please.
@Ian: how could I ever doubt you? Of course you know the 3900/3800 track system and you have tons of them!^^ Everybody knows that those tracks were extremely expensive so that they were cancelled only a few years later. But it will remain Märklin's secret, why they've never integrated those wonderful wide curves in the later pin-contact Gleis with some modifications and simpler design...
Best regards,
Christoph
:
Nevertheless it would be great to have a double slip turnout for the 3900-system, which was also never made, just a simple crossing.
If there's a track with a built-in suppressor capacitor, you might want to remove that one first. As I already said: I've tried it on my own layout which isn't from the 1930s though, but technically, it's the same thing.
