Haven't picked up this remote in a few years and discovered I was stuck to it. I seem to remember a satin like rubber grip along the side. I think it may have dissolved or broke down. It's all cleaned up now, but has anyone else come along a similar situation? My layout is in my attic in Southern California so summer months can be hard. Temps can reach 115° in the attic even when the exhaust fans are running.
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Yes, that happened to my CAB-2 a few years ago. The rubber grips just got sticky. I finally cleaned it up and it hasn't happened again. I forgot what I used to clean it. Denatured alcohol maybe.
I have also noticed this recently: The GRAY grips on my Legacy remote have become sticky, yet my trainroom (extra bedroom) is maintained at a moderate temperature year round! 
Can these be easily replaced? Are natural skin oils or perspiration the culprit here?
What is a SAFE method to clean these grips?
I do not believe you can clean the grips. Same thing happened to mine on the cab2. The only option is to clean the remote and remove the grips. You may be able to get replacement grips from Lionel. Once I removed my grips, I did not bother with replacements.
They all do that after a time. Just use Isopropyl Alcohol, 91% or 99% and scrub the coating off. You end up with a nice smooth plastic surface, no more sticky.
I thought that only happened to Barry B's 
Yeah, I figured it was a nefarious plot by Lionel to get even with me for beta testing a Legacy software release!
THANK YOU, GRJ!!
I used 70% ethyl rubbing alcohol and scrubbed the rubberized coating off as per your instructions and voila, NO more "sticky"! 
I did that to all my remotes, I don't know what that stuff is, but it doesn't have a very long life!
"Ancient Chinese Secret".........
Glad to hear I'm not the only one. Isopropyl was my method of attack as well. Once I got the majority of the sludge off I used a toothpick to get the remainder out of the mating joints.
I think it was a nice idea originally, but they could have done without it. Remote works the same with or without it.
I guess they thought our greasy fingers would slip off the smooth surface. 
In my other life - professional audio - we have had a lot of problems with urethanes that react with moisture, creating a sticky goo. In that case, the urethane is the binder that holds the iron oxide to the plastic backing of magnetic tape, and the phenomenon is called "sticky shed". Our solution for this "hydrolysis" is to bake the tapes at about 140 degrees F for a couple of day, and that allows the broken polymer chains to reestablish the long chains. This fix works for a while, but it is not permanent.
I suspect that the grips on the remote are molded urethane, and the problem is similar in nature. I know my grips have also shown the problem.
Dale, when new they definitely have a coating like a non-skid surface. In any case, baking my remote at 140F for a couple of days sounds like a bad idea, that ain't gonna' happen!
The coating comes right off, and the plastic underneath is nice and smooth. I did one several years ago, it's still the same, it hasn't developed any more goo.
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