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Eliminate the "elbow grease" and get yourself one of these...  from Dremel

Versa 4-Volt Cordless Lithium-Ion Max Power Scrubber Cleaning Tool Kit

for about $49.95 at Home Depot.  Has a variety of easily used scrubbing pads.

For those who remember the Jim Barrett modification to the Lionel track cleaning car...this is like that on steroids.

It does a fantastic job.

Last edited by SD60M

The best cleaning solvents are those that are non-polar. Alcohols are reported to be the polar solvents that result in the most quick blackening of the track. I use Deoxit 5 very sparingly and don't clean the track very often. Kerosene is the best.

Here's a link to the article on the subject...

Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine       (click forward to the 4th page)

Last edited by cjack

Extensive discussions elsewhere on this forum on this topic. Of note, mineral spirits (nonpolar solvent) is to be preferred to denatured alcohol (polar solvent), because polar solvents encourage the kind of sparking that builds up gunk on the track, while nonpolar solvents tend to prevent it. Nonpolar solvents tend to require more ventilation/safety precautions. Somewhere I have a table I downloaded from this forum with numerical polarity values for a long list of solvents. Mineral spirits was one of the best, as I recall. Others have reported good results with CRC 2-26, but I use it only on the center rail as it makes the outside rails slippery.

Last year, I started using Track & Rail cleaner ACT-6006. The label states that it leaves a fine residue that improves DCC and sound systems. After a year, I can say that I have noticed an increase in overall operation and sound. There also does not seem to be as much black residue on rails when wiped with a cloth. I run both DCS and Legacy and would recommend this product over the denatured alcohol that I have used previously.

Currently, I use Clorox wet wipes. They work well for the stainless steel rails of my Fastrack. Of course, I will probably invest in a track cleaning car for my new layout, since my layout has a fairly large section of track that I will find very difficult to clean manually. I've heard good things about the CMX Clean Machine Track Cleaning Car from Eric of Eric's Trains and a few others.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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