Rehabing rusty track

you can get some metal prep with a wire brush after that then wash off the metal prep..then you could go over the track with a red scotch bright pad.. thats what I do to my tracks... its  an acid metal cleanning agent..not harsh stuff. how bad is the track?

Just don't damage the insulators. If you do, you might as well throw it away.

Here, try this:

Edit: I removed the link and just pasted from that other thread.

a year ago I "restored" about twenty feet of very old (might even have been pre-war) Marx track including two switches and a similar batch of very old Lionel track, so it worked well.  Now, quite honestly, it does not brand new - but it works well.  Also, I started with twenty four feet of each -  ten to twenty percent of each batch  never did clear up well enough to work and look good. 

Deoxit is worth it.  Texas Pete's recommendation is certainly good. I used another brand, a penetrating electrical cleaner/decorroder I bought on Amazon - don't remember what, but essetnially the same I think.  But that was step two . . . 

First, I used Evapo-Rust , pretty much doing just like it says in the video in the link below - put some in a tub and soaked pieces for an afternoon.  This product is not quite as fast or complete in removed rust as it shows in the video but it did a good job and it certainly seemed safe and non-toxic. I was concerned that it might "eat" the insulating pads in the track center rail, etc, but I didn't have any problems except with a few that were bad anyway.   

http://www.evapo-rust.com/

Second, I rinsed and dried the track well putting it in an oven and heating it to about 240 degrees (i.e., above boiling) and leaving it for an hour in case evaporust or water had soaked into the track pins, etc.  I'd didn't warp badly or anything doing this.  I have no proof this step was necessary but it took nothing but a little time.  Then when cool again, used the Deoxit on the pins, trying to get it to soak into the pins held in the track as a final "chemical" step. 

Third: Bright Boys - I bought several and wore them out.  About half the track (both Marx and Lionel)  worked well once cleaned as above and then bright boyed "aggressively" - just lots of gentle pressure and time - stroke after stroke.

Sandpaper -in my opinion it is only a last resort.   Don't use anything like 200 or even 400 sandpaper.  Most auto parts stores stock at least 800 - the Autozone near me stocks down to 1500 grit wet-dry sandpaper, and sometimes you can find all the way to 3000 (which feels about like paper, it is so smooth).  If bright boys don't work, 1500 won't either, so I generally use around 1000 and gentle pressure and a little time, maybe 800 if desperate.  However - if a bright boy will not clean it up, it may be so bad that sandpaper is only going to make it worse, about 10% of my old track did not restore well..  Anything over 600 will ruin the track.

Pins - I oppose removing them if you don't have to: sometimes it takes enough force to bend or open up the track so why not leave well enough alone if it is?  On my track, just because the visible outside part of a pin was rusy did not mean the pin did not have good connectivity to the rail.  I used a penetrating electrical cleaner like Deoxit or something similar, then cleaned the rust off the pins with a Brightboy or sandpaper if need by.  I then tested the connectivity of pin the track with a mulit-meter.  If it was bad, then I pulled the pin and cleaned agressively.  I used no new pins.  I never thought of a pipecleaner to clean the inner side of the track, but had made sure the Evaporust got into the open ends of the track when pins would go and all, and cleaned each out well with the end of a fine rat tail file, carefully.

I then wiped it all with a thin layer of WD-40.  Yeah, I know what people say, but I did it, and some friends did it, and if the track was badly rusted it will try to rust again, so this does work.  Thin - keep it thin.

Just about all of the track treated like this "worked": trains would run on it.  About 20% would rust again soon or looked really worn and bad.  But 80% was good.  I have some of it on display in my study (with my Dad's 1937 Marx train set) and it has not rusted in the last year.  The rest I'm not using now and I put it in a sealed plastic bag into which I threw a bunch of old descicants from trains I bought in the hope they had some effectivness left

---------------------------------------------

Test a few pieces before you soak the whole lot.  The track I retored was very old and had pre-war types of hard insulators.  I've worried that more modern MPC era track with shat appepears to be more cardboard like insulators might not fare to well.  But this worked well for me . . .

I posted this in another thread about someone else asking about track.

Here, someone actually made a video on cleaning Lionel Tubular track!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObcKEQ6_Em0

Nothing but bad memories!  Corrosion was the motivating reason I switched from Lionel track to nickle silver. Such a waste of time and labor.

They want to put me into rehab, but I say no, no, no...

Rusty Traque

I would find the nearest trash can and deposit the box of track. It is not worth the time or effort and money to rehab rusted track. Do yourself a favor and buy some new 027 track.  You will thank me for it.

I agree David.  I've been that route before.  There's plenty of older good condition track on ebay at give-away prices.  Problem is the weight where shipping probably costs more than the selling price.  Plenty of used under the tables at shows too.

Phil

Your right Phil about getting new or like new track at shows, thanks for pointing that out.

I didn't have the heart to be that blunt in my earlier post, but I agree. For the amount of money and effort involved to clean it, you could easily pick up decent used track.

I have rehabilitated rusty track in a vibrating cleaning bin filled with coarse walnut shells, same type used to polish brass cartridge cases. The disadvantages to this method are that it takes a long time - many days/weeks, it is difficult to find a rectangular bin large enough to handle more than a few pieces of track, and the machines aren't cheap. Mine is small and just long enough to accept 10" straights. I've not used it for this purpose for many years, however. Another option is to use a sandblasting machine using baking soda as the abrasive medium. Cost and size are disadvantages. Maybe find a local auto repair shop (there is one where I live whose machine I've used in the past). David1 and Elliot have better suggestions, however, unless perhaps you have some rare and valuable track you want to save (Marklin, British, etc.)

If you can afford to purchase new track, or clean used track, I suggest you do so.

No matter what you do, in the end the track will be pitted and may have the plating worn away.

IMHO, trains really do run better on track that is clean and smooth.

I have boxes of old tarnished/stained/rusted track. I was hoping someone had a magic solution for cleaning it up. I can't bring myself to toss it. Although I do know someday it will find a place in the landfill. 

After doing some pretty dumb things in life I have learned that just because I can do something does not mean it is prudent to do that thing.

The hours of my life are limited and precious, I try to think twice before I waste them.

My vote; throw out the track b/4 it discourages you, ya can't make pigs fly.

My weak point is I find it difficult throwing "good wood pieces" away.  After holding on to them awhile I wind up calling local RRers to recycle.   tt 

Tom,

That's exactly my weakness too - which leads to boxes of odds and ends under the layout that I know will come in handy some day!

...and I also agree with you on the track. There are many better ways to spend your time in this hobby than cleaning track that will eventually cause problems. IMO save the old straights only for display shelves; invest in new for the layout.

Jim

Ok, I get it!  throw it away and  get good track.  Anyone have about 50 pieces of O guage for sale at a reasonable price?  Ebay doesn't have any currently, would rather invest in a good diecast 12 wheel tender for my 225E.

When I wanted to pick up some track, I watched for a new carton on Ebay. They show up from time to time, and typically go at a very substantial discount. There are 100 pieces in a carton of "O" or "O27" straight and curved track. I think the 1/2 tracks come in cartons of 50.