I need help ASAP please !

[trainmannick83]

I went up in our attic and got down a storage tote with my old HO layout inside of it ! Well i have me a 4x8 ft train table built and got my new HO Norfolk Southern Bachmann set in Saturday and put the oval of new track black roadbed , STEEL RAILS together and it runs GREAT !! I added my OLD bachmann HO track black roadbed STEEL RAILS and this old track does NOT work period !!!! I need HELP here guys .. what in the world could i do to this track to make it come back ALIVE again ??!!?!?!?! Surely i wont have to buy MORE of this track all over again .

Thanks !!!

 

[jdetray]

So you have some new track that works and some old track that does not work?

First of all, make sure the old track is electrically connected to your power pack. Assuming it is, then it sounds like the old track is dirty/oxidized and needs to be cleaned.

You can first try wiping down the track with a clean cotton cloth (an old t-shirt is good) moistened with a little alcohol. If that does not help, you will need stronger measures, as follows.

If you have a good hobby shop nearby, they might have a Bright Boy Abrasive Track Cleaner. Rub the Bright Boy along the tops of the dirty rails. Do this on all of the old track.

If you can't get a Bright Boy, get some fine sandpaper, wrap it around a small block of wood, and use it to clean the tops of the rails. I would suggest something like 800-grit or finer sandpaper. If your local hardware store does not have such fine sandpaper, try an automotive supply store.

Use a light touch with the abrasive. You are not trying to grind away the rails, just remove the crud from the tops of the rails. After you have rubbed the dirty track with the abrasive, wipe it down with the cotton cloth and alcohol.

Normally, I do not like to use an abrasive track cleaner, but for really dirty, oxidized track, it may be the only way.

- Jeff

 

[trainmannick83]

Thanks Jeff ! Im gonna have to try and get up EARLY before i got to work tommorow afternoon and buy some sand paper 800 grit and alcohol and see if that does the trick !!!!! Lord i sure hope so , track is EXPENSIVE now !

 

[timlange3]

Use a Bright Boy as your most abrasive cleaner, stay away from sandpaper, rails with get worse quicker with sandpaper. I would suggest a dry paper towel first, then Goo Gone with a paper towel, then Bright Boy, then new track!

 

[jdetray]

Using Goo Gone is a great idea. It will get rid of many types of "crud" that can accumulate on the rails.

Fine sandpaper won't damage the rails, but each to his own. For a thorough rehab of dirty track, I would start with some type non-abrasive cleaning. Alcohol or Goo Gone are both worth trying. I would apply these with a clean cloth; I find that paper towels leave behind bits of paper debris.

If stronger measures are needed, I would use abrasives. I would start with 800-grit sandpaper, followed by 1200, followed by a good-quality metal polish, followed by burnishing. Do a search for the "gleam" method of track cleaning for more info on this method.

With that said, 800-grit sandpaper alone will not cause any serious damage to the track but is still rough enough to remove tough dirt and oxidation on the rails.

- Jeff

 

[Selector]

The four best methods, in order of efficacy, for cleaning track are:

a. 600 grit sand-paper used by lightly buffing the top inside corners of the rails. This has the highest efficacy, but it isn't without potential problems because the grains leave minute scratches behind that can be repositories later on for all sorts of crud;

b. lacquer thinner - because it removes organo-solids readily, and those are often what cause the metal tires to lose contact with the metal of the rail, thus breaking the continuity needed for electrical power to the motors;

c. metal wheel polish - is third only because it must work over or around any organo-solids that are covering the rail, which reduces the efficacy of this product (MAAG, Mother's Mag Wheel Polish, Black Magic). Once you get the tracks free of the organo-solids, the metal wheel polishes should do a great job of lifting oxides, one of the great banes of hobby track users.

d. Running metal wheelsets in your rolling stock. This is more preventative, but it is surprisingly effective. Those who switch to metal wheels report much less trouble with oxide and crud build-up on their rails.

It should be said that there are several very enthusiastic and strong advocates for the Gleam method. This involves scrubbing the rails with 600 grit paper, then switching to something like 1000 grit, then to using a good quality steel washer and burnishing the rails to a bright shine. The last step is using one of the metal wheel polishes which are thought to leave behind a kind of protective coating. Gleaming may be the very best of all methods, but so far it is only anecdotal evidence that suggests it works best of all.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Yes, normally I don't normally recommend abrasives of any type, but this is steel track so a bright boy or 1200 grit sand paper might be your best bet. After doing that though be certain to wipe the track off with a cloth to get rid of all the grit scrapped off the rails. I don't like goo-gone, because while it will get goo off the track, it leaves its own residue behind. Same for WD-40. Works great for a while and then its residue starts attracting more gunk than there was before.

I use either alcohol or special electrically conductive track cleaners. If you do not have access to a hobby store that carries these, I've found LPS-1 works pretty good. It should be available in any hardware store (electrical section).

Common wisdom is that alcohol leaves the track too dry and causes electrical sparks and hence pitting. BUT once again that is for brass and nickel silver track. Not certain it is an issue with steel.

 

[rlundy90]

Take all that steel track and make flatcar loads out of them or rust them up and use them for cluttering up your yard on your layout. Then go out and buy nickel silver track. You will save yourself hours less maintenace and your trains will run better. It will also be easier on your power pack as well. The nickel silver track will conduct electricity better then the quickly corroding steel track. This could shorten the life of a smaller type transformer like you get in the sets. If you use flex track you will have a lot less joints to worry about as well.

 

[scroggin]

If you havent used dropper wires and are just relying on the fishplate connections oxidizition might be a problem on the joints too.

 

[rcduck]

If you havent used dropper wires and are just relying on the fishplate connections oxidizition might be a problem on the joints too.

Newbie here ...

Dropper wires?

Fishplate?

I think I know but...

Thanks in advance,

Randy (newbie) Duck

 

[timlange3]

My only concern with alcohol is that it is flammable and will burn without a visible flame. Not something I want to use on that may also cause sparks!

 

[CN2117]

Alcohol evaporates fairly quickly, so I'd be surprised if you could clean your track and run a train quickly enough to start a fire, but weirder things have happened.

 

[scroggin]

Newbie here ...

Dropper wires?

Fishplate?

I think I know but...

Thanks in advance,

Randy (newbie) Duck

I were talking about those little rail joiners, fishplate probably wasnt the right word. A fishplate is the type of railjoiner they use in the real world.
Dropper wires are when you solder a wire directly to the rail and drop it through the baseboard to connect it to a heavier bus-wire. (great for making sure you have good voltage right around your layout)

 

[Iron Horseman]

My only concern with alcohol is that it is flammable and will burn without a visible flame. Not something I want to use on that may also cause sparks!

Alcohol evaporates so quickly this is not an issue. Not to mention that the concentration is never enough to ignite. For over 30 years I've run live locomotives over a cloth saturated with alcohol to clean the wheels with no issues or fires either for that matter.

 

[rlundy90]

I don't know if the 70% alcohol solution burns or not, but the 99% stuff I use burns great. No smoke and you can barely see the flame. Still not an issue though. As others have said it evaporates very quickly. The 70% would probably not burn because it is 30% water. To be safe, just wait 5-10 minutes for it to fully evaporate.