What is the simplest way to clean nickel silver tracks?


C

Chattanooga

New Member
Hello, I'm new to model trains and recently bought several Bachmann nickel silver ez tracks and wanted to know how to clean them. Can I use rubbing alcohol? Thank you.
 
Yes, rubbing alcohol is fine. Don't use abrasives, i.e. sand paper, files, emery cloth or sanding stone on it. Abrasives will cause micro groves in the metal which will trap stuff which will degrade your electrical contact.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Yes, rubbing alcohol is fine. Don't use abrasives, i.e. sand paper, files, emery cloth or sanding stone on it. Abrasives will cause micro groves in the metal which will trap stuff which will degrade your electrical contact.
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Thank you. I was going to use 70 isopropyl alcohol and an eye glass cleaning cloth.
 
Sometimes track gets really dirty and the alcohol isn't enough. You can also use paint thinner, thats what I use.
 
Once you get the track clean, consider a Track Cleaning car. When I had my first layout up and running, I would run the cleaner car before and after each "session". While it didn't clean the track entirely, it certainly helped keep a lot of build up off of it.

Cheers,
 
Bachmann Nickel/Silver track is amazing! I have an HO Athearn Coca-Cola 2004 Christmas train set that I never cleaned until last year, I wiped it down with a lint free cloth and Lionel track cleaning fluid. It looks and runs like brand new.

I don't recommend waiting so long to clean track. Now I have it set up year round as a test track for my HO locomotive restoration projects and I wipe it down every month or so, probably over kill.

When I run out of Lionel track cleaning fluid I plan to use rubbing alcohol, just be sure to keep using a lint free cloth, your eye glass cleaning cloth is fine. You don't want lint to get picked by your trains. Using abrasives to clean the track can leave fine particles that can be picked up by the locomotive as well

A little hand held vacuum is good to use before cleaning and between clearings too. You don't want any foreign matter to get into you trains.
 
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See if you can locate a mrr site which has information on the track GLEAMING process! The 'inventor' of same sounds like he has a VERY GOOD, LOGICAL IDEA! Will try it when my first two modules are built, later this spring. TTFN.....papasmurf in NH
 
Track "gleaming" (AKA burnishing) is a great idea. But labor intensive to achieve.

I heartily concur with the recommendation to run a track cleaning car on a regular basis. I've done so on all my layouts, and if run regularly, it takes the need for "serious manual" track cleaning from months to years, IMHO.
 
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