Almost watched that locomotive fall off the edge of the table

I've used both and for my layout, I went with MTH RealTrax. It is more realistic in scale and detail than FasTrack. I've had no issues with the MTH rail joiners, but did have issues with FasTrack ones. The bottom line is both systems are good, but MTH looks and performs better in my opinion.

I have the Real Tracks from MTH...and so far no problems

LIONEL Fastrack is definitely great to use ! Power supply is no issue with each section of track having 110 spade connectors ready for your drop down to your power bus lines. All predrilled ready to screw down to your layout.

I love FastTrak and only use that. Never had an issue with not connecting them nor melting plastic. Use the appropriate transformers. These track allow your trains' magnetic wheels to grab the track.

With the RealTrax section, the gap between the rails is irrelevant, as that is not electricity is conducted between sections. Electricity is conducted via the brass loop-like connections between the sections. If these have connectivity issues, you will end up with dead sections as you demonstrated. This is easy to fix with a pair of needle nose pliers.

This is why I switched to Atlas 3-rail O. I started with Tubular, then FasTrack, then RealTrax. FasTrack does start to rust over time and RealTrax does start to wear over time. I use FasTrack for my Lionel Christmas tree sets and I use RealTrax for my shelving. Atlas 3-rail O is a bit pricy, but it’s so worth it. It’s the most realistic 3-rail O-gauge track out there.

I would measure the electrical resistance of the pure track and between two track sections. Testing two different locos each on a (very short) piece of track does not mean anything. And what is about corrosion, which one is more prone to it?

I have several sections of FastTrack and my gripe with it is, it rust super easy, the metal tabs connecting the track either breaks or gets stuck in the other track, I have never owned Realtrack, however a friend of mine does. He has zero issues and personally I think it looks much better then the FastTrack.

I have not had my connections melt when connected to my 180 wt power “brick”. I run it strait to the track at 100% power all the time as I was waiting for the 180 wt transformers to come in. It limited me to the newer engines, this case it was the UP Veranda, and I have not had a problem yet. Noise isn’t an issue as it is a temporary layout around the tree or really around the room. I jump the connectors in three places to make sure there are no dead spots. I like it as the engine does not touch the carpet (the roadbed has caught screws that have fallen off the engine/rolling stock, there is no cutting involved, it comes together/apart pretty easily, and it does not look bad to me. Downsides, it doesn’t look good as a system with wooden rails, my 1950 Santa Fe sparks when it goes through the switches, the coil couplers will uncouple every few times over the switches, and the pins are breaking, especially on my O72 curved pieces. This topic is fun as there is a lot of passion over what track to use.