What is your secret forumla for cleaning track?

While were on the subject, you guy's that have track cleaning car's, what is the best one for  having a green scotchbright like results.

My layout is in the attic and gets a decent amount of humididy,I have to use a green scotch bright pad sometimes,and now some of my hard to reach spots are starting to get scratchy

Thank's

I use WD-40 sprayed on a paper towel.   I clean the track twice a year.

Houston Tinplate uses 91% Iso with Scott's Industrial Towels!

Get a small piece of 3/4" pine wood say about 3" x6".  Get a stick about 4' long. Drill a hole in the middle of the pine square wood and place a screw into the middle and into the long stick. Affix a Scotchbrite piece by stapling around back. Now use this tool to reach tracks at the far points of the layout, but make sure that the block is able to pivot to adjust the cleaning action to the track surface. This won't help in removing grease and oil but it will help smooth corrosion or light surface rust. As an alternative Jim Barrett's Scotchbrite replacement pad idea on a track cleaning car also works well. He did an article about his idea and creation in OGR a few years back.

Good Thread even if repeated… Some things need repeating.

Not sure there is a “best” way, since everyone thinks their way is the best way.  So one might surmise there’s more than one way to clean a track.  It's also important to consider what track brand you have... i.e. Steel rails, brass rails, plastic roadbed, real wood ties, etc.

Let’s summarize in NO PARTICULAR ORDER.  Also remembering that some folks use a combination of these methods too.

91% rubbing alcohol

Scotchbrite Pads

Goo gone liquid

Life-Like' track cleaner

Track cleaning car  - Several models available

Track cleaning eraser

Brite Boy

Brakleen (Some spelled Brake Kleen or Brake Clean)

Fine drywall sanding block

Goof Off

Nail polish remover (alcohol base)

Simple Green 

Steel wool

Denatured alcohol

Norton Synthetic Steel Wool Pad

LGB Track Cleaning Block 

A dry kitchen scouring pad

Lacquer thinner 

Shamwow

WD-40

And most importantly… Elbow Grease

For Wheels

I assume all of the above, plus...

Putty knife  

Fine wire wheel on a Dremel a the lowest speed and brushed the wheels, except for the traction tire

Rags

Cloth

Socks (I like this one)

Paper Towels

Industrial Towels

Happy Cleaning all... I'm off to run some trains!!!

RonO45 -  I actually do not have to manually clean the rollers and wheels.   I let the trains run while I am wiping down the rails with the paper towels and WD-40, and the wheels and rollers clean themselves.   I have been using this technique for 6 years with no ill effects on Fastrack.   I have no problem with gunk building up on the wheels, everything stays clean.    Very minimal "elbow grease".

These 2 are actually a very very very bad idea.  Did I mention it's a bad idea?

The references to Simple Green was a thread a while back where Lee Willis essentially found that Simple Green, while at first use seemed a good choice, ultimately destroyed his track.  He had a further thread where he detailed the method he used to replace the track.  (If I recall, he laid Atlas O on top of the existing FasTrack).  If you do a search on "simple green", I believe the original thread still lives on here.  (here are some links: link 1 link 2 link 3 link 4)

Steel Wool is bad because of the small metal particles it can leave behind both gumming up the gears in an engine and also creating quite a light show if they get across the center and outside rails.

-Dave