So ... yesterday I was in my garage cleaning up and found some old track. I was putting away stuff that I had used to build my Deltic kit. Whilst building the Deltic I had to do quite a bit of filling plus automotive spray putty (as I reported in that post). The trick was to get the filled sections as smooth as the original plastic finish. Fortunately I had purchased a pack of fine to very fine wet and dry Emory papers (from Ebay). The finest paper (P5000 - I assume this 5000 grit) sanded the putty to a glassy finish which saved the model. One piece of track (Hornby) was in very poor shape and other Peco track wasn't much better. Remembering that Gormo has often hit his track with a fileI figured the P5000 paper wouldn't do much harm. The results were amazing and I ended up doing a number of tests. I also got out my digital microscope to better document the results. Hard to see in the above picture but the finish on the track after sanding is very smooth and glassy. Unfortunately I did not take a shot of the Hornby track before I sanded it. It only took around 5 or 6 rubs (in about 2 to 3 inch sections) to get to this result. Above shows the difference that sanding makes. To see if the track suffered from any of this I moved to the microscope. I put a small paint dot on a sleeper so that I could show the difference before and after in exactly the same spot. BEFORE AFTER And below are 2 extreme closeups (before and after) ... Finally ... the real test is how the track feels after you sand it. My results are extremely smooth. I would expect that you would only need to do this once and then use your preferred track cleaning method as required. How this method will go in the long term is the question. My thought is - the smoother the track the less likely it will accumulate dirt and be easier to clean when it does. I will be interested in what other members think ... Chris
Seems to have done a good job but I think a track rubber will do the same thing. I rarely clean my track, perhaps once a year. Clean wheels is a better option.
Good one Chris..... Of course, if this thread was on another forum, it would bring out the armchair modellers protesting up and down outside your house about how this man is destroying track in his hidden workshop in the depths of the Australian capitol....... Fortunately, this forum has members who are more gentile and knowledgeable and receptive to new ideas and methods. I`ve got some old steel set track, in a box in the back shed , that has gone rusty.......the only way to clean it up is with abrasive paper......and not as fine as what you`ve used. A track rubber can`t really cope with something that far gone. I tried a Bunnings sanding block the other day and that worked pretty well, however if I keep using it my code 100 track will soon be code 75 .... Gormo
Although I've never used this method myself, I understand that rubbing along the track with a small piece of hardboard gives a good result without excessive scratching or other damage to the track. Wether that would work with rusted track I don't know, it would depend on how far gone the track was. Keith.
I have a modified gaurds van that I attach some Emery cloth to the underside, I run this round my layout occasionally in front of A Dapol track cleaner wagon (in hoover mode). Works very well. I have in the past used a bit of cardboard.
Me too, wheels pick it up, clean the wheels, except traction tyres, cursed things create muck as they wear I do use the motorised Dapol track cleaner in hoover mode regularly, occasionally I need to use a Peco track rubber, followed by the Dapol unit to remove any rubber debris. Track rubbers contain a mild abrasive, so providing the paper is very fine grit and P5000 is very fine, it should be okay but I would not do it often. Cleaning track once the scenery is in place is fraught with risks, catching signals is the worst, so I stick them down with PVA so they are effectively tacked in place, knocked down instead of broken, then just stick them back, admittedly my signals are mostly vintage metal ones, Crescent and Dublo. Jim
Why is it that the one thing you stick down too firmly is the one that grabs your sleeve and twangs across the room.
I use gaugemaster electronic cleaners (DC use only) works very well, but also occasionally use one of the old hornby track cleaning cars, but instead of the wad of felt, I used a small block of wood with four nails, which are positioned so the nails fit in the slots of the cleaning car. Use this mainly to remove residue left from the traction tyres.
Funnily, I just watched a Sam's Trains Youtube (from 3 months ago) about 10 mistakes hobbyist's make when building a layout and "sanding track" was a big no-no on that video. His concern was the scratching the sanding would inflict on the rail-head. And he is right, if you use a course sand paper. The P5000 paper actually polishes rather than grind the rail (as you can see in my microscope shots). I agree that a Peco rubber may do a similar job but I have used those before and you get a lot of debris (particularly if you need to use it aggressively). My sanding with P5000 produced no noticeable debris and, as I said, I would expect that you would only need to do this once (unless you leave the track untreated for a long time). Once the track is "polished" you can then maintain it with something like INNOX which FishplateFilms (Youtube) swears by (I think Gormo uses this too).
You hit the nail on the head there Chris explaining your approach to sanding track as referred to in Sam's video, scratch sandpaper is ferocious on smooth surfaces compared to a gentle polish effect using fine grade papers... I guess it is really a matter of adopting a common sense approach.
My only concerns would be - any grit that comes off the paper may find its way into the mechanisims. Wetting the paper would help keep it in one place. But it can't be any worse than the motorised track cleaners with a spinning fairly coarse grade abrasive pad. At exhibitions, I start the day with track rubbers, followed by a wipe with a cloth wetted with IPA, and all stocks wheels cleaned. The damp cloth is used when ever any loco's start to become a bit irregular. Can take a few mins, but usually fixes any issues, if not then the loco gets its wheels cleaned. During summer months in busy halls, I have had to clean the track every 30 mins with the damp cloth, you'd be suprised at the amount of dirt removed. Use a cotton cloth not tissue as these break up. Paul
