the track torch 'engine' in the pic is about 60yrs old, the controls suffer intermittents from sitting and age..then again so do I so it's all relative. I think it has a universal motor with rheostats for speed and two speed ranges..the rheostat is getting dead spots in it..it stopped a couple times when making these two cuts; coulda been the old yellow AC cord is getting stiff,maybe it was getting caught on an edge and stalling out the torch from moving. I got it as is at an auction,no tracks so I had to make a set,I had a friend with a mill cut the track grooves into two pieces of 3/8 strap and then welded in crossties to make the track,its in 5ft sections so it comes apart with two bolts. I have a not-so old Victor track torch system as well, a 10ft track,works a lot better than this one. I ran out of acetylene too,I was going to cut some rear cylinder supports as well,haveta save that for another day. So the 5x38 cut plate section is back up in the shop, I'll get to doing a primary grinder cleanup on it this week,maybe start on disassembly of the brake,shouldn't be too hard.
Still waiting on the 2"plate section for the die holder to arrive,maybe this week.
