I am limited in where I can build a permanent layout. My two choices are an un heated garage or sun room. My question is how to keep your O gauge track from rusting. I live in the Northeast US. Any advice will help....Joe
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Use it often.
Clean it frequently (there are dozens of threads on the Forum about the most popular methods).
If it is going to be in a humid or moisture prone area, install a dehumidifier.
I also vote for the dehumidifier. In addition, you might put a gauge to monitor the humidifier in your train room. I think that is called a hygrometer. Also, out of the two location choices you gave, I would pick the sunroom. It is probably more moisture resistant than the garage.
I agree with the previous answers. Warrenville is in my basement, downstate NY, with a dehumidifier on from late spring to mid fall. Summer months it'll take a gallon of water out in a single day.
Traditional track since the mid '80's has not rusted
Yes, frequent cleaning and a lot of running time, plus dehumidifier if the climate and location mandate.
Jesse TCA
Gold rails will NOT rust and are excellent conductors. They do have one drawback! 
Simon
You can use Atlas O nickel silver track and that doesn't rust. However if you have a lot of tinplate track, do what was done back in the 1990's which was cut cardboard ( like pizza boxes, shoe boxes, folders,etc. The length of your track sections and switches. Soak the cardboard in WD40 and place the cardboard over the tinplate track when not in use.
Use lots of smoke fluid ... what settles on the rails protects them from rusting. There have been threads recommending wiping the rails with Wahl clipper oil but smoke fluid oil works well and the application is enjoyable.
When MTH changed from Seuthe to fan-driven smoke generators with copious smoke output, I noted that my modules (run hard and put away wet) didn't rust in the garage. I attribute that to the coating of the smoke fluid aerosol that lands on the track. I clean track when prepping the modules for a show - not after the show.
Use GarGraves stainless steel track.
As per a few others have already stated, use nickel-silver or stainless steel track. Everything else is just more work and hassle than you would want to mess with. 
Be cautious with use of WD40... it is highly flammable!
Jesse TCA
texastrain posted:Be cautious with use of WD40... it is highly flammable!
Jesse TCA
In my younger days, my mom & dad had an electronic "bug-zapper" on their back patio. At night time after dark, it would attract bugs with its black light. When the bugs got between the two screens and made contact, it would fry them with a high voltage electric current. Kinda' like a spark plug.
Enter a young Mixed Freight, looking for some cheap entertainment. With a can of WD-40 in one hand, and a spray bottle of water in the other, I could have fun for as long as I cared. When a bug started frying, if I wanted to see flames, I'd hit it with a shot of WD-40. If I wanted to see blue streaks of electricity, I'd hit hit with a squirt of water spray. But you could only do it while the bug was making contact and frying. Small bugs fried quickly - not giving you a lot of time. You had to be fast on the draw. Bigger bugs took longer to fry, thereby giving you ample time to squirt 'em with one or the other. Flames or blue electricity - I learned a lot about decoders and electronics back then! 
The moral of the story - don't hang a bug zapper above your model railroad. Especially if WD-40-soaked cardboard is involved. 
I used old-school Lionel tubular track on my basement layout. And while the room gets humid enough in the summer to make the floor sweat... I've never experienced rust anywhere on the track. I do use a dehumidifier in the Summer to protect the boxes on the floor, and that can take out a gallon or more/day.
Do you live near the ocean? Salt in the air may be the problem.
Jon 
