Lionel Lines Maintenance

The original cars did not have a clear coating on them, so they achieved a nice patina after a short time. If you polish them they will be shiny, but somehow not look quite right after that. Additionally, it's difficult to remove all the unused polish from the grooves.

If they have black spots, you can scrub them with LAVA hand soap and a tooth brush.

If you want to shine them, you can use mag wheel polish, like Mother's brand, or Simichrome.

Modern cars seem to some in several flavors of shine; some are super shiny with a clear coating and some are painted silver to look like oxidized post war cars.

If you are just building your layout, you might go for as wide a curve as possible. The old stuff will look great on wide curves and the big new stuff will run on it also. My floor loops are O72 and O54, but it would be nice to have even wider curves.

Thanks RoyBoy, as soon as I can break my pockets and need for trains away from the computer, I'll start buying track again and start designing.  I'll keep your tips in mind

marshelangelo: The finish on the newer aluminum passenger cars is not a polish or a plateing; it is a process called "Bright Dipping", with a clear anodizing applied after to protect the finish. The "Bright dipping" process is an acid bath the cleans the aluminum; but, this clean aluminum needs protection from the air around it, and is clear anodized to prevent the air from oxidizing the aluminum to a duller finish over time. This finish can be enhanced even more by using a special aluminum that  "Brightens Up" to a mirror finish, but this costs more to do.

          The older Lionel Corp. cars were buffed to their finish and in time they developed that flat-like finish(patina) that is so present on the cars today.

          I attempted to have some older aluminum cars  go through the bright dipping process  with mixed results. Some of the cars came out pretty good; while a few resisted the process and did not "brighten up" at all, the best was the window edges took the process and left me with a chrome-like window edge, but the cars was still flat.

          The cars must be impeccably clean of any and all dirt or decals; if not, the acid bath will "Burn" the dirt/decal away with such heat, that it will etch the aluminum and leave a mark - the very fine ribs in the side and the letterboard area are extremely prone to this situation.

          Your best bet might be to polish up the aluminum cars and then apply a clear floor wax on the car that can be buffed and give as close a look to the new cars as can be gotten without going thru the whole process.  Dennis M.