suggestions for an initial track cleaning?

denatured alcohol using a clean rag folded to a small square and rotated as one corner gets dirty.  Dies fast, low/no odor, leaves nothing (something like mineral spirits will leave a film.)

It might be helpful to use the OGR SEARCH feature, as there is a wealth of "track cleaning" discussions throughout the OGR Forums, over many, MANY years.

@Mike Wyatt - thanks will give it another try.

@Hot Water - those posts talk about ongoing maintenance, but this seems to be EXTRA dirty since several cleanings have done little. The methods I tried  resulted from reading those posts!

 @uberstationmeister - ok, so this might be "as clean as it gets". I was imagining using a white glove test for clean track. Expect some gray no matter what?

A metal polish (Brasso is the cheapest) is my friend when breaking out modules stored (non-climate controlled) since the previous holiday season.  Alcohol follows (internal and external ;-).

If you run DCS, track cleaning is a myth in my world. It’s only required in 2R or H.O.

If you have to clean tracks in 3r, you are doing something wrong. I cleaned my G.G. tracks two times in 18 years because everyone said I should.

It’s either too much lube applied or a musty basement?

@ScottV posted:

@Mike Wyatt - thanks will give it another try.

@Hot Water - those posts talk about ongoing maintenance, but this seems to be EXTRA dirty since several cleanings have done little. The methods I tried  resulted from reading those posts!

 @uberstationmeister - ok, so this might be "as clean as it gets". I was imagining using a white glove test for clean track. Expect some gray no matter what?

Our whole layout was Atlas solid nickel silver track & turnouts. After everything was completed, I went over the entire layout with 300 grit shop cloth, wrapped around a short piece of 1X2" pine. From then on I only used denatured alcohol or acrylic lacquer thinner for dust removal. Rarely did I ever have to use the 300 shop cloth again. That said, solid nickel silver does oxidize ever so slowly, so without use, you just might have to resort to the 300 shop cloth occasionally. 

I used 91 percent isopropyl alcohol for years.  After I read this article, I switched to mineral spirits.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws...ne/index.html?page=9

@Lehigh74 posted:

I used 91 percent isopropyl alcohol for years.  After I read this article, I switched to mineral spirits.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws...ne/index.html?page=9

Hi Bob,

What were your findings after your switch? Did you notice a difference?

@sirt  the basement is a daylight basement (2 sides exposed) and it's fully finished and has it's own heat pump-a/c for the floor.  I rolled out the dehumidifier just in case, but I imagine that the track sitting in a box in a closed side closet for a couple years might be the culprit of the oxidation / black cr*p that's now coming off. It's warmer and a bit more humid there.

@tracker john, i think some dewar's scotch i have on hand or a chilled mug of beer might do the trick as well. 

...thanks again to all for the input!  

@Lionelski posted:

Hi Bob,

What were your findings after your switch? Did you notice a difference?

Mineral spirits does seem to clean the track faster than alcohol and the track seems to stay clean longer.

Ok... So you have dirty track.  Do you have trouble running trains?  Like SIRT, I barely ever clean track.

I did rig up this fun MOW car I push around every now and then with a Mr. clean magic eraser.

@ron045 - yes. engines stall in certain spots, esp. at low speeds. 

One of the better track cleaners.  IMO   No longer available.  It has been awhile since my Atlas track was new.  Until all the black on the top of the center rail was gone, engine center rail pick-ups had to be periodically cleaned.   Great for cleaning dust/debris.  May be available on the secondary market.   

@mike ct - I picked up a CMX clean machine from Tony's Train Exchange, which I plan to use for maintenance.  ...I think the first cleaning to remove all the oxides accumulated will need to be by old fashioned "musk-ell" power. 

@ScottV posted:

@ron045 - yes. engines stall in certain spots, esp. at low speeds. 

Just be sure it's not your wheels.  This engine gave me fits with finding what I thought was dead track.  I cleaned the wheels with alcohol and a wire brush and still had trouble.  Then I did this and the engine runs absolutely perfect.

I have Atlas track and I clean it maybe once a year. I have had issues with 2 roller pickup engines stalling (mostly Atlas engines would you believe) so most all of my 2 roller engines have either added rollers, wired connections to tender rollers, or wired tethers to dummy engines. Any 4 roller engine works well even on dirty track.

Ken

@Ron045- it's definitely not dirt on the wheels, but that video is helpful... keeping it in mind when I go to do maintenance on my engines.  

For the track stalls, I test the track area in question with another engine to see if it stalls in the same spot or not. Sometimes I'll use a lit caboose and roll it across the spot.  If a 2nd engine doesn't stall at the same spot or the caboose doesn't blink out, it's time to examine the wheels on the engine that did the stalling. In all my cases, placing a brand new engine on the track resulted in a stall at the same spot.     In this particular case, I pulled out a brand new engine I had just acquired (pristine wheels) and it also stalled. 

I'm guessing from the responses that most people do not have this issue when they first install track, so my problem is probably the result of storing the boxes of track in a slightly warmer and more humid closet, while waiting for my layout to go under construction... 

Is it a case of the joiners not conducting electricity?  Depending on your Atlas track, if it's of the earliest vintage either the rail was too small or the joiners were made out of a springy metal that eventually lost its tension, resulting in drops and unpowered sections.  I've heard horror stories about folks having to solder every single joint to get reliable conductivity.  Test your rails with an analog meter while the train is running, or press on either side of the joint with your hand to see if the needle moves.

Also, I would just scrape off that black stuff.  I had MTH RealTrax for a short while.  The blackened center rail inhibited pick-up and the black stuff got all over my loco and passenger car rollers.  It's 3-rail track, no apologies needed.  The beauty of 3-rail track is that traditionally it IS reliable!

@Ted S - not in this case, but yes, I have had bad joiner connections happen as well:  the joiner is just loose enough that there's no electrical contact, or there is electrical contact until there's just the right bump and it goes away (or comes back).  

An alternative method to soldering I have used for joining 2 rails electrically (where the joiner is loose) is to drill a hole through each rail near the adjoining ends and running a small wire between them, secured with a micro pan head screw at each hole. 100% connectivity and zero problems.