Was searching last night on track cleaning methods. Came across a post from April that has now been closed. WOW!
Want to share what I did because it is a lesson in what not to do. Maybe some of those chemists from that April post can weigh in.
I have been cleaning my track with denatured alcohol purchased at Walgreens....seemed somewhat household friendly and it works pretty good. Well I can no longer buy it locally. Went to Wal Mart and bought what is labeled S-L-X Denatured alcohol. Much more industrial looking in its packaging tin can. Searched the web to see if I could find any difference between the two. Did not find anything. So I just used it on a good portion of my recently laid main line. Went back a few days later, the center rail was rusted like it been outside for the past two years. I found the thread that i referenced above last night and grabbed some WD-40 and goo gone and went to work. Some places I was getting absolutely no power at all. After alot of elbow grease and WD-40/goo gone I am somewhat operational. Some spots are still not that good and I am afraid I might have to replace some of the track.
I grabbed the WD and goo gone prior to reading the entire post. After reading the entire post I am as confused as most everyone else. But this is what I think....
I am going to continue to use Wd-40 to get as much rust off as possible
I am going to use a scotch brite pad on the worst spots.
I am going to use Isopropyl alcohol for my regular cleaning
I may need to replace some selected track
Note it did nothing to the two outer rails. It will never be the same I hope it will be good enough.
Interested to hear if my plan is a good one or I should be doing something else.